Michelle Gittler

Dr. Michelle Gittler fell deeply in love with rehabilitation medicine in medical school. She has been practicing rehabilitation medicine for over 28 years at Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital, where she advocates for all individuals with disabilities, regardless of their socioeconomic status, for the highest quality of rehabilitative services.

Dr. Gittler is an expert in working with individuals who sustained violently acquired disabilities. Dr. Gittler has been at the forefront of promoting the concept of firearm violence as a public health issue. Dr. Gittler also spends a great deal of time promoting the identification of Social Determinants of health as critical components in quality patient care. While she works with myriad kinds of disabling conditions, she is particularly interested in spinal cord injury care, polytrauma, and care of the amputee including prosthetics. She has started a deinstitutionalization program, working with individuals who have not had access to appropriate rehabilitation care and instead have been sent to nursing homes. She works with their families and their insurance providers to identify an appropriate and safe community discharge and then advocates for an interdisciplinary inpatient rehabilitation stay in order to optimize the patient’s function and the family’s ability to care for the patient at home. She is currently the medical director at Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital.

In addition to patient care, Dr. Gittler is passionate about graduate medical education. She has been the residency program director at Schwab for over 25 years. Dr. Gittler was the chairman of the medical education committee for the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2010‐2016, and since 2016 has been a member of the Board of Governors for the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and is currently the President. Dr. Gittler also works with the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation as a senior reviewer on the part 2 (oral) exam committee. She is a reviewing editor for the journal PM&R. Dr. Gittler has participated in multiple panels discussing trauma-informed care and, sequela of violently acquired disabilities.