Dr. Emily I. Payne is a Leland, Mississippi, native. She received a degree in biology from Mississippi State University and graduated from the University of Mississippi Medical Center School of Dentistry in 2005. She then moved to Birmingham, Alabama, to pursue a one-year AEGD (Advance Education in General Dentistry) residency at UAB Hospital Dentistry from 2005-2006. She has been practicing dentistry in the Birmingham area since 2006.