Dr. Charles is Professor and Vice-Chair of Neurology and Medical Director, Vanderbilt Telehealth. His research interests include the treatment of spasticity and cervical dystonia, and he is currently leading the only clinical trial approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration to assess deep brain stimulation in people with early-stage Parkinson’s disease.

Dr. Charles is a member of the American Neurological Association, Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, and Chair of the Alliance for Patient Access. He is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha honor medical society and in 2007 received the CANDLE Award. Recipients are chosen based upon their positive impact on the lives of physicians-in-training and are recognized by their students as examples of excellence in medical education. From 1997 to 1998, Dr. Charles served as a Health Policy Fellow in the United States Senate on the staff of the Labor Subcommittee for Public Health and Safety. In 1998 he studied deep brain stimulation for the treatment of movement disorders as a Fulbright Senior Scholar at the Universitaire de Grenoble in Grenoble, France. In 2000 Dr. Charles was a nominee for the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee’s Sixth Congressional District.

Dr. Charles graduated from Vanderbilt University School of Engineering in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1986 with a Bachelor of Science cum laude in Computer Science and Mathematics and earned his medical degree from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 1990. He did his internship in the Department of Medicine and his residency in the Department of Neurology at Vanderbilt. From 1993 to 1994 he was Chief Resident in Neurology, and from 1994 to 1995 he was a Fellow in Movement Disorders and Clinical Neurophysiology at Vanderbilt. In 1996, he completed a Health Care Management course at Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management, and in 1997 he completed the Harvard Macy Institute Program for Physician Educators at Harvard Medical School.