Profile
Yvonne Hernandez-Kapila, D.D.S., Ph.D., F.A.C.D., F.I.C.D., E.L.A.M. Fellow
UCLA School of Dentistry
10833 Le Conte Ave.
Box 951668
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1668
Dr. Yvonne L. Hernandez Kapila is a Professor of Dentistry in the Sections of Biosystems and Function and Periodontics, and the Felix and Mildred Yip Endowed Chair. She is also an Associate Dean of Research.
Dr. Hernandez-Kapila received her DDS, Periodontology Residency training, PhD in Oral Biology, and Postdoctoral Fellowship from UCSF. Dr. Hernandez-Kapila is a clinician scientist, and academic and research leader with over 25 years of research, teaching/mentoring, clinical, and administrative experience. She started her academic career at UCSF and after seventeen years as a member of the UCSF community, she was recruited to the University of Michigan School of Dentistry where she rose through the academic ranks to Full Professor and became the inaugural Director of Global Health Initiatives at the School. UCSF recruited Dr. Hernandez-Kapila back in 2016 and she became the Chair of Periodontology and R. Earl Robinson Distinguished Professor of Periodontology. In 2022, she was recruited to the UCLA School of Dentistry where she has a significant focus on administration as Associate Dean of Research, on clinical teaching, patient care, and service.
- Kuraji R, Ye C, Zhao C, Gao L, Martinez A, Miyashita Y, Radaic A, Kamarajan P, Le C, Zhan L, Range H, Sunohara M, Numabe Y, Kapila YL. Nisin lantibiotic prevents NAFLD liver steatosis and mitochondrial oxidative stress following periodontal disease by abrogating oral, gut and liver dysbiosis. NPJ Biofilms Microbiomes. 2024 Jan 17;10(1):3. doi: 10.1038/s41522-024-00476-x. PMID: 38233485; PMCID: PMC10794237.
- Zhao C, Kuraji R, Ye C, Gao L, Radaic A, Kamarajan P, Taketani Y, Kapila YL. Nisin a probiotic bacteriocin mitigates brain microbiome dysbiosis and Alzheimer's disease-like neuroinflammation triggered by periodontal disease. J Neuroinflammation. 2023 Oct 6;20(1):228. doi: 10.1186/s12974-023-02915-6. PMID: 37803465; PMCID: PMC10557354.
- Gao L, Kuraji R, Zhang MJ, Martinez A, Radaic A, Kamarajan P, Le C, Zhan L, Ye C, Rangé H, Sailani MR, Kapila YL. Nisin probiotic prevents inflammatory bone loss while promoting reparative proliferation and a healthy microbiome. NPJ Biofilms Microbiomes. 2022 Jun 7;8(1):45. doi: 10.1038/s41522-022-00307-x. PMID: 35672331; PMCID: PMC9174264.
- Kapila YL. Oral health's inextricable connection to systemic health: Special populations bring to bear multimodal relationships and factors connecting periodontal disease to systemic diseases and conditions. Periodontol 2000. 2021 Oct;87(1):11-16. doi: 10.1111/prd.12398. PMID: 34463994; PMCID: PMC8457130.
- Gao L, Kang M, Zhang MJ, Reza Sailani M, Kuraji R, Martinez A, Ye C, Kamarajan P, Le C, Zhan L, Rangé H, Ho SP, Kapila YL. 2020. Polymicrobial periodontal disease triggers a wide radius of effect and unique virome. NPJ Biofilms Microbiomes 6(1):10. PMID: 32157085. PMCID: PMC7064479.
During her years at Michigan and at UCSF, Dr. Hernandez-Kapila has worn many hats, including running her NIH funded research laboratory, teaching in the graduate and undergraduate Periodontology programs, providing patient care at the local community clinic or faculty practice, directing and overseeing PhD coursework and seminars, and serving on many local and national committees, including the school’s executive committee, campus wide global health committees, UC-Wide Cancer Coordinating Committee, UCSF RAP committee, several admissions committees, service at NIH and NCI as a grant reviewer and council member, and service on committees of the American Academy of Periodontology.
Over the course of her career, Dr. Kapila has mentored over 100 PhD, DDS, DDS/PhD, MD, Masters, and undergraduate students in either dissertation work, lab rotations, summer research projects, NIH fellowships, and global research projects. She has also mentored junior and visiting faculty on grant submissions, career development, and research projects. As a teacher and mentor, she has helped shaped the lives of many graduate students that have gone on to become faculty at academic institutions around the world.
- BA, Stanford University, 1986
- DDS and BS, UCSF, 1990
- Periodontology Residency, UCSF, 1994
- PhD, Oral Biology, UCSF, 1997
- Postdoctoral Fellowship with Dr. Zena Werb, 1998; UCSF
Dr. Hernandez-Kapila has made seminal discoveries centered around the cell and molecular biology mechanisms that govern periodontal disease pathogenesis and oral cancer carcinogenesis using in vitro and in vivo models, and human clinical studies. She has led basic and clinical research teams for over 25 years in studies related to Periodontal Disease, Oral Cancer, Caries assessment, Fluorosis assessment, and Oral Health and Pain research in the US and in Kenya. She has been continuously funded by NIH for over 25 years via K and R mechanisms, as part of program projects, through foundation grants, and through industry sponsored innovation awards. She has also helped many trainees secure various fellowships and funding awards for their training and research.
- Diplomate, American Board of Periodontology
- Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Fellow
- International College of Dentists Fellow
- American College of Dentists Fellow
- American Academy of Periodontology
- California Society of Periodontology
- American Association For The Advancement of Science
- American Association For Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research
- International Association of Dental Research
- American Dental Association
- California Dental Association
- UM MICHR Distinguished Clinical and Translational Research Mentor Award, 2015
- UCSF Chancellors Award for Mid-Career Faculty, 2016
- American Academy of Periodontology Sunstar Innovation Award, 2017
- Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Fellowship, 2017
- American Association for Dental Research (AADR) Irwin D. Mandel Distinguished Mentoring Award, 2019
- American Academy of Periodontology Distinguished Scientist Award, 2019
- UCSF Annual Research and Clinical Excellence Day Research Lecture, 2019
- American College of Dentists, Inducted as Fellow, 2019
- UCSF Alumni Discovery Award, 2021
- UCSF Alumni Medal of Honor Award, 2022