He was known for his expertise and knowledge of native herbal medicine and contributed to the works on economic botany by Sir George Watt.
He worked for many years at the Triplicane Dispensary and was conferred the title of Khan Bahadur in 1870.
[1] Sheriff contributed notes to the Madras Quarterly Journal of Medicine and corresponded with other physicians and pharmacists of the period.
After his death, the Materia Medica of Madras that he was working on was completed by David Hooper, the government quinologist at Ootacamund.
A portrait was placed at Royapettah Hospital and in 1894 a prize was instituted at the Madras Medical College in his memory.