Kencana Dharmapatni obtained her PhD in the Discipline of Anatomy and Pathology, the School of Medicine at the University of Adelaide. Her thesis focussed on the pathology of Arthritis in Rheumatoid Arthritis. Her other academic qualifications include a Master of Science (Immunology, Allergy and Arthritis), which she obtained from Flinders University and a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery MBBS/MD from the Udayana University, Indonesia. She worked as a general practitioner in various settings, such as private hospitals and a primary health centre in Indonesia, before studying the postgraduate degrees in Australia.

After completing her PhD, she was extensively involved in teaching and research at the University of Adelaide. She used her strengths and multidisciplinary knowledge to teach over 20 undergraduate courses within the Health and Medical Sciences faculty. She co-coordinated over ten undergraduate courses in various year levels at the University. She is a firm believer in strong nexus between teaching and research; hence, she was heavily involved in numerous undergraduate courses that empower research skills to develop inquiry-based learning for the graduates.

Kencana also supervised several Honours and PhD students, which the majority had excellent outcomes. She successfully obtained several grant applications from Arthritis Australia, the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research and the Australian Dental Research Foundation. She published over 25 publications and 60 conference posters and presentations.

She has been a reviewer for various scientific journals in the Rheumatology field, dentistry and bone biology field, including some of the top rank journals in the rheumatology field, e.g. the Annals of Rheumatic Disease, the Arthritis and Rheumatology, Arthritis Research and Therapy. She has been an external reviewer for national grant funding body such as NHMRC and the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation.