DR. nATALIE KUDLAK
board-certified dermatologist
PASSIONATE ABOUT DERMATOLOGY… AND PIZZA
There is a “perpetual tower of books” on Dr. Natalie Kudlak’s nightstand, but don’t ask her to name a favorite — that’s too tall an order.
Not only are Kudlak’s vast interests reflected in her stacks of books (currently she’s smitten with one about astrophysics and astronomy), but they also are reflected in her medical career and her life.
“I am very fortunate to be a dermatologist,” she said. “It is a cerebral field where outcomes are tangible, and the art of medicine is still integral. I enjoy all aspects of the specialty: surgery, medical dermatology, aesthetics, and pathology. Additionally, continuity fosters strong patient relationships.”
Kudlak grew up Wheeling, West Virginia. The youngest of three children, she loved spending time in the kitchen with her Polish grandma, learning to cook and bake. In school, she was a good student who also excelled at sports, winning the West Virginia state tennis championship in high school.
She studied psychology and sociology at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland before pivoting to medicine. She worked as a barista and supervisor at Starbucks for seven years while working on premedical coursework and earning a Master of Science in biotechnology and chemical science from Roosevelt University in Chicago. She graduated from West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine. She returned to Case Western Reserve and completed dermatology residency training at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland in 2020.
She worked at Oregon Medical Group in Eugene, Oregon, where she was named “Top Doctor” in dermatology by Eugene Magazine.
She loves the variety of her work on any given day and getting to know her patients. “I gladly treat patients of all ages, so an encounter for a rash on a newborn may be followed by the surgical management of an octogenarian's skin cancer,” she said. “My approach to care is patient-centered, so you’ll likely find me chatting with patients as a means to cultivate strong patient-physician relationships and promote patient empowerment through education.”
Since she was a girl, she dreamed of living in the Pacific Northwest: “So, I am happy to call the Seattle area my home.”
During her free time, she enjoys hiking, traveling, baking, cooking, amateur birding, thrifting for mid-century modern furniture, and collecting outsider art. She and her husband, Kirk, have two mischievous cats, Henry and Bert.
She’s a self-described “huge pizza head.”
“My record of consumed slices in one sitting is eight pieces of Ohio Valley-style pizza,” she said. That personal pizza-eating record took place at Elm Grove DiCarlo’s in West Virginia. “Best pizza ever, but an acquired taste if not from the region,” she added.