Director of Rehabilitation, East

Kara Wendel, MS, CCC-SLP, CBIS

Kara Wendel is the director of rehabilitation at Banner Rehabilitation Hospital East. In this role since the hospital’s opening in 2022, Kara oversees the therapy department’s daily functioning, clinical staff development and hospital programming.

Previously, Kara was a lead speech language pathologist at HonorHealth Rehabilitation Hospital in Scottsdale, Arizona, for four years before advancing to the therapy manager role for five years. Prior to that, Kara worked as a speech language pathologist at Pueblo Norte, a skilled nursing facility in Scottsdale.

Kara earned a bachelor’s degree in communication sciences and disorders from the University of New Hampshire and a master’s degree in speech language pathology from the University of Rhode Island. Kara has held a certified brain injury specialist certificate since 2016.