Dr. Timothy Burns was born and raised in Clinton, Iowa. He obtained his medical degree at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. Dr. Burns moved to Spokane where he did his residency at the University of Washington, Family Medicine Spokane. In 1989, he started working at Ironwood Family Practice. He has been practicing Family Medicine for 33 years. He sees a wide variety of patients from newborns to the elderly with a special interest with problems of the skin. He has been involved with the training of Family Medicine resident physicians in the area for the past 7 years and is part of the faculty at the University of Washington. When Dr. Burns isn’t practicing medicine, he enjoys taking advantage of living in the great NW by playing golf, fishing, boating, biking, or other outdoor activities. . He is the proud father of 4 wonderful, loving, and intelligent young adults.

Tara Avriett was born and raised in North Idaho, graduating from Post Falls High School. This community has always been important to her, and she knew early on that she wanted to give back to the community that raised her. This led her to a career in healthcare.

Tara started her healthcare career as a Licensed Practical Nurse, serving in the Urgent Care and Family Practice settings. This is when she first joined the Ironwood Family Practice team, working as Dr. Burns’ primary nurse until 2014, and then as a part-time float nurse through 2017.

Over the next couple of years, Tara would go on to pursue her Registered Nurse license from North Idaho College as she soaked up time with her growing family. With her RN license in hand, she worked at Kootenai Health on the surgical floor. Through her work in a hospital setting, she felt she was unable to make a significant difference in patient’s lives. She wanted to dive back into her studies to prevent illness and prevent patients from ending up in the hospital.

Tara returned to Ironwood Family Practice as a float nurse while she worked towards her master’s degree. In 2023, Tara graduated with her MSN Family Nurse Practitioner degree from Western Governors University and joined Ironwood Family Practice as a full-time Nurse Practitioner in March 2024. Tara is dedicated to family practice, offering compassionate care that focuses on the whole person to support the patient and their families through all stages of life, from birth to end of life.

Outside of work, Tara enjoys spending time with her husband of over 20 years and their four children. All four children are very active and keep Tara busy shuffling between sporting events and 4H commitments. If that was not enough, Tara also serves as a medic in the Air National Guard, retiring soon after 20 years of service! She draws on her military experience to enrich her patient care philosophy.