Prof Dr Sowmya Nettem completed her Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) from Sri Ramakrishna Dental College and Hospital in 2005. She then went on to pursure her Masters in Dental Surgery (MDS) in Periodontology and Oral Implantology in 2009 from SRM University, India winning a Gold Medal and First Rank certificate for Excellence in Education.

She is the first dental faculty member from Malaysia to obtain FAIMER fellowship in Healthcare Professionals Education. Prof Sowmya has also completed Standard Proficiency certification in Laser Dentistry from Academy of Laser Dentistry, USA and is a speaker for various workshops on this subject. She has organized and facilitated numerous workshops in the field of Periodontology, Oral Implantolgy as well as Healthcare Professionals Education.

She has numerous publications in indexed and peer-reviewed journals and books and is actively involved in guiding research projects for undergraduate dental students. Currently, she works as Professor in the Department of Periodontics at Melaka-Manipal Medical College, Malaysia where she also actively works with the Implant team to conduct post-graduate certificate course for general dental practitioners across Malaysia. As the Chairman of Integrated CBL committee, she is the pioneer member to implement Integrated Case Based Learning at her Institution.

On top of that, Prof Sowmya is a core member and secretary of the Centre for Transformative Learning at her Institution which organizes faculty development programs and workshops to help all the faculty members stay abreast with the latest developments in the field of Healthcare Professionals Education.