Krause avails medical center as faculty, student
A typical day for Denise Krause does not exist.
Krause, senior LAN administrator with the Division of Information Systems and director of information technology in the School of Dentistry, manages computers and networks and integrates technology into health care and academics at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMC). She's also an assistant professor of periodontics and preventive sciences and a graduate student in the School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences.
A UMC employee for more than 11 years, Krause wears many hats as faculty, staff, and student. She conducts research, works on publications, makes presentations, and teaches students about clinical information systems and computer-based technologies in dentistry. She supervises the support staff that manages and maintains the networking infrastructure and clinical information systems in the School of Dentistry; digitizes teaching and course materials; maintains the school's Web site, and manages databases and servers. Krause also is working toward a doctorate in the Department of Preventive Medicine.
"I never really know what the day will hold," she said. "The possibilities are endless, unfortunately the hours in the day are limited.
"Certain things are scheduled and the highest priorities kind of rise to the top and I don't have to figure it out. It just kind of happens; somehow it always manages to get done."
Originally hired in research before accepting a position to design and build the computer network in the School of Dentistry, Krause's position has continued to evolve throughout the years.
Krause has been instrumental in the effort to bring the latest technology to the School of Dentistry and the entire campus. She helped lead the development of the School of Dentistry's web site and the electronic dental record, according to Dr. James Hupp, school dean. The School of Dentistry was the first dental school in the nation to use a wireless network to support chairside data entry, Krause said.
"We implemented a student laptop program using a wireless network in order to put data into the clinical information system at the patient's chair," she said. "Now when our students see patients, they can bring up the treatment plan on their laptop, make any necessary changes and be graded at the end of the patient's appointment."
Hupp said Krause is a truly visionary technology expert who has made the School of Dentistry the envy of all the nation's dental schools.
"She has led us into technological advancements in a way that makes it not only exciting for technophiles like me and others in our school, but even palatable for our few technophobes," he said. "We would have never moved so far, so fast without Denise and her able team."
Krause is applying new technologies into dental education each day. She is currently integrating technology into health care research and continues in the development of the electronic dental record.
"I can't say we'll ever achieve a truly paperless environment, but I can say that we will have a great deal less paper."
Krause continues to strive for the best in everything she does. Her research interests are epidemiology, informatics, geographic information systems, oral health, HIV/AIDS, and access to care and services for underserved populations.
She is principal investigator of a study funded by the Mississippi State Department of Health and the Health Resources and Services Administration that includes a state-wide survey and assessment of access to care issues for people living with HIV and AIDS.
She is the daughter of Bill and Shirley Krause of Peabody.
