New faculty join UMMC academic ranks

Published on Monday, June 5, 2023

Medical Center leadership is proud to announce the following additions to its faculty and leadership staff.

Dr. Barbara D. Olivos Bazaes

Dr. Barbara D. Olivos Bazaes, recently an orthodontist in private practice in La Serena, Chile, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of orthodontics in the School of Dentistry.

Olivos earned her DDS at Universidad of Concepcion in Chile, in 1995, and a Master in Dental Sciences at the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan in 2013. She also received a post-graduate degree in orthodontics, Faculty of Medical Sciences, from the University of Puerto Rico.

Her previous academic appointments include professor of growth and development in the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of La Serena. She also served as acting head of dental specializations for the Hospital of La Serena, where she was also an orthodontist. Olivos Bazaes has also practiced general dentistry at the Hospital of Ovalle and the Hospital of Curanilahue in Chile.

She is the coauthor of several professional publications and has made a number presentations at professional conferences.

Olivos Bazaes is a member of the College of Doctors of Dental Surgery of Chile, Dental Society of Chile, Orthodontics Society of Chile, Roth Williams International Society of Orthodontists, and Scientific Medical Society of Limari, American Dental Association, and American Association of Orthodontists.

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Sarah Beth Sappington

Sarah Beth Sappington, AuD, recently a pediatric audiologist at Augusta University Health in Augusta, Georgia, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery in the School of Medicine.

Sappington earned her Doctor of Audiology (AuD) at the University of Memphis in 2015 after receiving her Bachelor of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Mississippi.

Before joining Augusta University Health, completed an audiology externships at Lexington Hearing and Speech Center in Lexington, Kentucky, and at the Kentucky Clinic, University of Kentucky in Lexington.

Sappington is a fellow of the American Academy of Audiology and earned a certificate of clinical competence in audiology from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Her clinical interests include pediatric audiology, auditory electrophysiology, and implanted hearing devices.