Patricia is Associate Professor, Division of Periodontology, School of Dental Medicine, UConn Health Center, Farmington, Conneticut. Patricia obtained her dental degree from CES University, Colombia; her PhD in oral microbiology from The University of Adelaide, Australia and her certificate in Periodontology from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. She completed her postdoctoral studies in the Paul Kolenbrander Laboratory at the National Institutes of Health (USA), where she studied the dynamics of early plaque formation in humans.

Patricia’s current work focuses on understanding the role of the microbiome in oral diseases by using genomic tools and applying microbial ecology principles. She has conducted clinical studies characterizing the global shifts in the subgingival microbiome in relation to periodontal diseases and the effects of cancer treatment on oral bacterial and fungal communities.

These studies are complemented by in vitro investigations using flow cells and chemostat community models to recapitulate oral community dynamics and identify environmental factors and inter-species interactions that modulate community stability in health and dysbiosis.