Marcela Hernández is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Chile, and a specialist in Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology. Her research focuses on periodontitis and apical periodontitis, with particular emphasis on local and systemic host immune responses to oral bacterial biofilms, systemic inflammation, and the development of innovative therapies for inflammatory oral diseases. She leads the Oral Pathology Service and the Periodontal Biology Laboratory at the University of Chile.