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Biography

Dr. Nikki Gentile is an Assistant Professor in the UW Departments of Family Medicine and Laboratory Medicine and Pathology and is the Primary Care Medical Director of the UW Post-COVID Rehabilitation and Recovery Clinic. After earning her PhD in Comparative Pathology from the University of California, Davis, she completed her MD training at Tulane University School of Medicine followed by Family Medicine residency and chief resident year at UW. She currently practices hospital medicine and outpatient primary care at UW, and multidisciplinary post-COVID care at the Harborview Post-COVID Rehabilitation and Recovery Clinic.

Dr. Gentile’s graduate research in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at UC Davis involved designing and executing bench and clinical validation testing on, and assessing performance and clinical effectiveness of, novel point-of-care (POC) tests, including glucometers and multiplex nucleic acid tests (e.g., linear-after-the-exponential polymerase chain reaction [LATE-PCR], loop-mediated isothermal amplification [LAMP]). These studies funded by RC-1 Challenge and U54 grants were done in collaboration with industry partners, other academic institutions, and the NIH. She also has background in developing novel sample prep for extracting DNA from complex media (i.e., blood), which has been patented by prior industry partners for use in POC nucleic acid tests.

In residency, Dr. Gentile was a co-PI overseeing research studies involving implementation of physical activity vital sign (PAVS) in the primary care setting under the “Exercise Is Medicine” initiative at UW. These population health studies analyzed the association between physical inactivity and chronic disease burden, mental health, and healthcare utilization in primary care patients, as well as investigating provider practices and needs surrounding exercise promotion.

Her recent/current research aims at advancing translational medicine on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, including examining (1) diagnostic/laboratory testing modalities and access, (2) impact of COVID on mental health and healthcare utilization, (3) health disparities related to COVID, (4) disease severity, associated symptoms, and comorbidities in long COVID, as well as performing clinical trials testing integrative medicine approaches to treat long COVID, including acupuncture and mindfulness. She is also passionate about translational medicine and research spanning direct clinical care and laboratory medicine. She was a key member of the CDC funded RELIEF study team, and currently serves as site co-investigator for the CDC-funded INSPIRE Registry, a large multi-center, longitudinal cohort examining predictors of long-term consequences of COVID-19. As a PI, she is currently building a research program aimed at studying long COVID-related pain and potential treatments. In her first year as research faculty, her team received a UW Royalty Research Fund (RRF) award for a mixed methods study exploring autoantibody abnormalities and impact of pain on quality of life and function in patients with long COVID-related pain seen in the Post-COVID Rehabilitation and Recovery Clinic.

Aside from grant-funded research efforts, Dr. Gentile is passionate about residency education and mentoring future physician scientists. She is the developer and faculty lead for the Research Track and longitudinal Scholarship & Research curriculum in the UW Family Medicine Residency.