Sheryl Handler-Matasar, MD, pediatric orthopedic surgeon, and director, Orthopedic Surgery and Clubfoot Clinic, Mahoning Valley
As a little kid, Sheryl Handler-Matasar, MD, was fascinated by injuries and broken bones.
“I used to put casts on my Barbie® dolls and perform surgery on them. I never wanted to be anything else,” she said. “When I was in high school, I truly fell in love with orthopedics. My mom had a business connection with an orthopedic surgeon. I got a job and worked for him for three years. He even took me to the OR to observe all kinds of surgeries.”
As a pediatric orthopedic surgeon, she finds it especially gratifying when she can use her hands and brain to fix her patients’ problems and make a lasting difference in their lives.
“It’s both challenging and rewarding to fix broken bones, putting the pieces back together like a puzzle,” she said.
Along with traumatic injuries of the upper and lower extremities, her specialty areas include cerebral palsy, clubfeet and other limb deformities. She is in her 18th year of practice at Akron Children’s, so she has followed many of her patients with cerebral palsy and other chronic conditions for their entire lives. She has watched them grow up and has developed deep relationships with them and their families.
As a mother of three, Dr. Handler-Matasar can relate to her patients and families as a parent, striving to earn their trust by being a caring listener.
“I want the kids, not just their parents, to feel that trust too,” she said.
One of her most memorable patients was an 11-year-old boy who emigrated from Pakistan whose clubfeet were so severe that he walked on the tops of his feet and could not wear shoes. She treated him like she would a newborn baby with clubfeet, with serial casting using Ponseti technique over a period of several months.
“He had a remarkable outcome and is now able to walk normally. That was an amazing transformation,” she said.
Another memorable moment occurred during one of her son’s gymnastics meets. As she was waiting for her son to perform next on the vault, a 17-year-old teammate landed poorly with badly displaced tibia and fibula fractures.
“I ran down from the stands. It was a horrible break that was nearly an open fracture, but I was able to reduce the fractures and straighten his leg, using a makeshift splint until EMS arrived. This saved him from needing surgery, so I was a hero at my son’s gym,” she said.
Dr. Handler-Matasar is a third-generation New Yorker, growing up in Brooklyn. She attended Columbia University as an undergrad and medical student. She completed her orthopedic surgery residency at the Cleveland Clinic, then returned to New York for her pediatric orthopedic fellowship at the Hospital for Special Surgery before returning to Cleveland.
Since then, she and her husband Scott have raised their family in the area, living in Chagrin Falls for the past 19 years. Dr. Handler-Matasar enjoys practicing close to home in Beachwood. She also continues to see patients in Boardman and Akron.
“In my spare time, I have two obsessions: Peloton® riding and listening to audiobooks, especially historical fiction,” she said.
She loves to travel and plan her family’s next adventures which have ranged from riding ATVs in the jungles of Panama to a recent 17,000-foot sky dive with her son over the Grand Canyon.
“I was the first in my immediate family to graduate from college. I’ve always been self-motivated and have worked very hard to get where I am. I feel truly fortunate that every day I wake up and get to do exactly what I love to do,” she said.
