Rate My Professor Kristi Kuhn

Kristi Kuhn, MD, PhD, serves as the Scoville Endowed Chair and Head of the Division of Rheumatology, and Professor of Medicine-Rheumatology, Medicine, and Immunology and Microbiology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. In the Medicine faculty, she specializes in Rheumatology. Her academic journey began with a BS from the University of Kansas in 1999. She then pursued advanced training at the University of Colorado, earning a PhD in Immunology in 2005 and an MD in 2007 from the University of Colorado Denver Health Sciences Center. Following medical school, Kuhn completed her internship in 2008, residency and chief residency in Internal Medicine in 2011, and Rheumatology fellowship in 2013, all at Washington University/Barnes-Jewish Hospital/St. Louis Children's Hospital. Upon completing her training, she returned to the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in 2013 to establish her independent research laboratory.

Kuhn's research program investigates the mucosal immunopathology of arthritis, with a particular emphasis on how commensal microbes at the intestinal mucosal surface modulate local adaptive immune responses that contribute to the development of autoimmunity, including rheumatoid arthritis, spondyloarthritis, and inflammatory bowel diseases. Her laboratory employs a multidisciplinary approach, utilizing biospecimens from patients with these conditions, murine models of autoimmune arthritis and bowel inflammation, and innovative methods to isolate, identify, transfer, and manipulate primary bacterial strains in germ-free mice to elucidate immunologic consequences. Notable publications include "More than a leaky gut: how gut priming shapes arthritis" co-authored with Yomogida K, Knoop K, Wu HJ, and Zaiss MM in Nature Reviews Rheumatology (2025); "Microbial threads in the tapestry of rheumatoid arthritis" with Li J in Journal of Clinical Investigation (2025); and "Progression to rheumatoid arthritis in at-risk individuals is defined by systemic inflammation and by T and B cell dysregulation" in Science Translational Medicine (2025). Kuhn has garnered significant recognition for her contributions, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the United States Office of the President (2025), the Henry Kunkel Early Career Investigator Award from the American College of Rheumatology (2024), the Outstanding Early Career Scholar Award from the Department of Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine (2018), the Bruckel Early Career Investigator Award in AxSpA from the Spondyloarthritis Association of America (2018), and the Webb-Warring Early Career Investigator Award from the Boettcher Foundation (2017). She is deeply committed to mentorship, having served on more than 15 mentorship committees and guided numerous individuals through career transitions within and beyond academia.