Dr. Tonelli is a nephrologist, professor and clinician-scientist at the University of Calgary. His research aims to improve the care of people with chronic kidney disease and other noncommunicable diseases.

He is chair emeritus of the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care, a past President of the Canadian Society of Nephrology, and President of the International Society of Nephrology.

From 2014-2023 he was chair of the methods committee for KDIGO, the leading global producer of kidney-related practice guidelines. He is Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases in Humanitarian Settings and Chronic Kidney Disease.

He is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and the Royal Society of Canada. He has been named a “Highly Cited” researcher every year since 2015 by Thomson-Reuters Web of Science.