Dr. Lense attended Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, FL on a National Merit Finalist Scholarship, graduating with a BS in Biology and Languages. She went on to attend Emory University School of Dentistry and graduated Summa Cum Laude, as well as winning the Oral Pathology and Hinman Scholar awards. She completed an Oral Maxillofacial Pathology residency at Emory, obtained a Master’s degree in Healthcare Administration from Georgia State University School of Business, and did a residency in Dental Public Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA. Her academic experience includes serving as an Assistant Professor of Oral Pathology at West Virginia Schools of Medicine and Dentistry, Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics for Emory and Morehouse Schools of Medicine, and Associate Professor of Community Dentistry at University of Florida College of Dentistry.
Dr. Lense served as an Oral Medicine/Oral Pathology Consultant for a dental group in Atlanta, as Director of the Pediatric Dental Program at Hughes Spalding Children’s Hospital in Atlanta, and she was the State Dental Director of Georgia. Her volunteer work includes establishing a dental program for the St. Vincent de Paul Clinic in Grand Bois- a remote area in the mountains of Haiti, President of the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Georgia, on the OMH Southeast Region Health Equity Council, and is now Co-Chair of Community Outreach for the Hispanic Dental Association.
Currently, Dr. Lense works with the American Dental Association’s Council on Advocacy for Access and Prevention to promote Health Equity and Prevention Programs. She is the ADA’s subject matter expert on Community Water Fluoridation and Dental Sciences.
