Dr. Soumya Padala

About

Soumya Padala is an orthodontist and dental sleep medicine dentist with many years of experience in patient care, teaching, and research. She was most recently program director of orthodontics at the Dental College of Georgia at Augusta University, and before that she founded and directed the Orthodontic and Dental Sleep Service Line at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. She is board-certified by the American Board of Orthodontics and the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine.

She serves on the editorial board of the World Federation of Orthodontists and is a peer reviewer for several journals. She has published peer-reviewed articles and a book chapter. She led the first survey to study burnout among North American orthodontists, and the American Association of Orthodontists used her findings in its mental wellness resources.

She speaks about burnout, loneliness, and resilience at national and international meetings. She believes in saying what needs to be said, even when it's uncomfortable, if it makes things better for patients, students, and colleagues. She is a Public Voice Fellow of The OpEd Project, and her love for words grew from reading Arianna Huffington's work.