Sheryl Katta-Charles, MD

Bio

Inspired by her family's contributions to Leprosy Rehabilitation in India and guided by her passion for neurosciences, Sheryl Katta-Charles, MD, completed her residency training at Wayne State University, where she was selected to serve as the Chief Resident. She is double Board-certified in PM&R and Brain Injury Medicine and joined IUSM PM&R in 2015.

As the medical director for the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Service at the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana, she is actively involved in program management, resulting in the Disorders of Consciousness (DoC) manual, improving the rate of falls and other clinical outcomes. As an IUSM assistant clinical professor of PM&R, Dr. Katta-Charles has supervised, coached, and mentored students and residents rotating on the brain injury service. She is involved in resident recruitment and orientation. She enjoys working with residents who rotate on her service and teaching them the principles of Brain Injury Rehabilitation.

She takes pride in working with her team to take all that science offers to help patients meet their rehabilitation goals. Her clinical interests include rehabilitating individuals whose lives have been affected by traumatic and non-traumatic brain injuries. She sees patients with all severities of brain injuries and in all phases of their recovery, especially while admitted to the inpatient rehab facility and in the clinic. She treats behavioral and cognitive disorders, disorders of consciousness, and spasticity, by prescribing therapies, and medications, including botulinum toxin injections and intrathecal baclofen. Her clinical background lends itself well to serving as an expert witness in medicolegal cases and caring for those injured at their place of employment.

Her research interests include improving the quality of care and long-term outcomes for patients affected by brain injuries, especially those whose recovery is slow or those with personality changes due to their injury.

She currently serves as the Physician Champion on RHI's Diversity Equity Inclusion Committee and the co-chair of the Education and Resource Subcommittee. She is the former co-chair and current member of the Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) Graduate Medical Education (GME) Recruitment Committee. As the current diversity officer for ACGME Equity Matters ®, Dr. Katta-Charles regularly participates in educational sessions related to diversity and finds ways to translate knowledge into current departmental and institutional practices. As a result, she has helped develop strategic goals and processes through these teams and organized events, including the annual MLK Day and Juneteenth celebrations at RHI and Open House for IU GME.

As an emerging leader in the field of Brain Injury Medicine, she has been invited to participate in and facilitate national and international working groups. She was nominated to the Association of Academic Physiatrists' (AAP) Program for Academic Leadership in 2022. She is actively involved in the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, having served as the chair of the Physician and Clinician Networking Group and frequently contributing as a presenter at the annual conference. She serves as a question writer and oral board examiner for the PM&R boards. She has authored numerous textbook chapters and manuscripts.

In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, gardening, and teaching her dog new things.