One evening not long ago, Dr. Katie Barnes walked through the door of her Philomath home and realized she’d left a loose end at work. A pharmacy had run into a problem with a prescription for one of her patients, and the issue was still open.
As it turned out, the call had already found its way to her house. Her husband, Dr. Everett Barnes, was on call that night and was on the phone working through it.
“I was like, ‘Oh shoot, I should have taken care of that, I’m sorry,'” Katie said with a laugh.
Everett took it in stride.
“It was really convenient because you were right there and I could talk to you,” he said, although Katie ended up taking over the call to answer questions.
That’s life in a two-doctor household. Everett, 34, and Katie, 36, are both family medicine physicians with Samaritan Health Services. She practices at Samaritan’s Ninth Street clinic in Corvallis. In September, he began practicing at the newly reopened Samaritan Family Medicine – Circle Blvd, a primary care clinic on the campus of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Corvallis.
At home in Philomath, they share a 9-month-old son, their dogs, a garden and a demanding profession that has drawn them even closer together.
“What we go through, nobody else can understand,” Everett said, “and we don’t have much free time.”
Classmates first
The couple met at the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific-Northwest in Lebanon — then known as COMP-Northwest. Everett was in his third year when Katie arrived as a first-year student.
Their paths there were very different. Everett grew up in South Corvallis, graduated from Corvallis High School in 2011 and earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Utah. Katie spent 10 years in Colorado, completing her undergraduate degree, working and earning a master’s degree before applying to medical school.
“It was kind of random how I ended up out here,” she said. “Very randomly, I flew out to COMP-Northwest to interview, and I loved it.”
Romance between classmates is common in medicine, the couple said.
Said Katie, “So many of our classmates who are all married to each other.”
Everett also helped steer her career. Katie once planned to become a surgeon and completed surgical rotations in Colorado and Michigan.
“I think Everett definitely influenced me to go the primary care route,” she said. “It was really nice having his perspective and seeing his lifestyle with primary care. It definitely had a great influence on me.”
Everett graduated in 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, and matched into the family medicine residency at Providence St. Peter in Olympia, Washington. Katie, who graduated in 2022, matched into the same program. They spent five years in Washington before a job opened back home.
The couple settled in Philomath in 2025, near Everett’s parents, who still live in the area. Housing played a part, Everett said, describing it as “a little bit cheaper than Corvallis.” But they also wanted space.
“We wanted acreage for our dogs and the garden,” Katie said. “That was perfect. We also really like the Philomath school system.”
Everett, who received his own childhood primary care at Philomath Family Medicine when it was located on Applegate Street, said he’s struck by how much the town has changed since his youth.
“It’s really rebranded itself,” he said. “It’s thriving … and there are multiple small businesses downtown. There’s a great education system. … And it’s a great place for families too.”
Katie has become a fan of the city’s community events and its growing public art scene. The couple enjoys the Sunday farmers market, the Dizzy Hen and Gathering Together Farm, along with Philomath’s proximity to Marys Peak, the coast and the region’s ski areas.
Shop talk at dinner
With a baby at home, the Barneses currently work opposite days so one of them is always with their son. They still make time for dinner together, evening activities and weekend outings.
And yes, they talk shop.
“We used to be better about it in residency,” Everett said. “We’d say, let’s not talk about anything medicine-related. But now it inevitably comes up.”
That’s partly because they regularly cover for each other, including monitoring each other’s patient inboxes. Because both are providers in the same health system, Katie said, privacy rules allow them to access information when covering for one another, and they keep it between themselves.
Another benefit, they said, is having a partner who simply gets it.
“We can really empathize with each other if we’ve had a bad day or we’re sleep-deprived, or we get home after seeing a lot of complicated patients,” Everett said. “We can understand how the other person is feeling.”
The couple’s approach to medicine took shape early. Both took a nutrition in medicine class in medical school, and both separately adopted plant-based diets before they met.
“Then we met each other and were like, hey, we’re both passionate about this,” Katie said. “It has really shaped where we’re at in medicine now and what we can educate our patients about.”
The two cook in alternating shifts at home. With patients, though, they’re careful not to preach.
“A lot of people, when you bring up the V-word, vegan, you automatically close some doors,” Katie said. “We don’t want you to transition your lifestyle right then and there. But it definitely is going to reduce your risk of all chronic conditions if you’re able to eat less animal product.”
During residency, both pursued certification in lifestyle medicine, which focuses on whole foods, physical activity, sleep, social connection and avoiding risky substances such as tobacco and excess alcohol.
“I feel like that integrates very well into primary care,” Everett said. “It’s very easy, when you’re doing a wellness visit, to talk about all of those.”
Both also practice osteopathic manipulative treatment, a hands-on approach to musculoskeletal problems such as neck and back pain. Katie adds dry needling, which uses thin needles to ease muscle tension and spasms, and sees more women’s health patients. Otherwise, they said, their styles are similar, which makes sense given they trained in the same medical school and residency.
They considered working at the same clinic, but decided against it for practical reasons.
“If we both go on vacation, it’s kind of a pain for our colleagues covering for us,” Katie said. “But we could totally work together in the future if we wanted to.”
A clinic with energy
Everett’s move to Circle Boulevard after Labor Day brought him closer to home. He had previously built a panel of about 700 patients at Samaritan Heartspring Wellness Center in North Albany, and those patients remain with him.
The Circle Boulevard clinic, located above the BGCC’s Johnson Teen Center, was established in 2018 with a single pediatrician. It closed for about nine months after two providers relocated out of state. Everett and physician assistant Donna Strigel now staff the four-exam-room clinic, and Samaritan is recruiting another provider.
Everett is accepting new patients and hopes to add more children to his panel. He’d also like to serve as the primary care doctor for young patients of the clinic’s pediatric providers once they turn 18.
“We’re trying to increase access,” he said. “The idea of moving here is to try and get more people in Corvallis primary care, because there’s such a shortage of doctors in the Corvallis, Philomath, Albany, Lebanon area.”
His exam rooms share a wall with the club, and he can set his watch by the afternoon arrivals.
“Right around 3 o’clock, there’s a lot of commotion on the other side of the wall,” he said. “When I leave, there are kids playing football and soccer out on that field. It’s a very vibrant place to work.”
Asked what each admires most about the other as a doctor, Everett answered first.
“I think Katie is an incredibly compassionate physician,” he said. “She’s very focused on details, and she’s very flexible. If people need to be seen, she’ll definitely get them in, and she’ll try to do everything possible for them.”
Katie took a moment to find the words.
“Everett is very kind to anyone who comes in the door,” she said. “Everything rolls off his shoulders. But the second a patient needs an advocate, he’s there, and he’s willing to speak out for them.”
