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Professor Teresa Leonor Sánchez Pérez earned a Ph.D. in Dentistry from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. She trained as a Dental Surgeon, Specialist in Oral Public Health, and completed a Master of Science in Dental Sciences.

She received the José Vasconcelos Medal (UNAM) and the Research Award from the Mexican Health Foundation in 1988. She won first and second place at the national level in dental research, awarded by the National Commission for Dental Research on more than fifteen occasions. She received the Dr. James A. Cottone Award for Investigative Research in 2004. She held Level II status in the National System of Researchers (SNI) since 2000. She also received the annual award and recognition for the best original article published in 2005 in the Boletín Médico del Hospital Infantil de México.

She served as a Full-Time Professor (Titular C) at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana from 1978 until her retirement, where she taught and conducted research at the undergraduate level (Stomatology), master’s level (Neurological Rehabilitation and Dental Sciences), and doctoral level (Biological and Health Sciences). She taught at the Military School of Dentistry from 1986 to 2000 and participated as a visiting professor at the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico in its doctoral program. She worked as an evaluator for PRODEP and CONACyT. She held the position of Academic Secretary of the Division of Biological and Health Sciences from 2014 to 2018.

In her university service, she served on the Health Sciences Evaluation Committee five times, acted as Divisional Council member on three occasions, and served as Academic Council member once.

She represented UAM Xochimilco Campus in the development of Official Mexican Standards, including “Prevention and Control of Oral Diseases” and “Control, Prevention, and Eradication of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases,” and she advised on the knowledge area for the second and third National Surveys on Dental Caries and Fluorosis.

She belonged to the International Association for Dental Research (IADR), the Fédération Dentaire Internationale (FDI), and she held Fellow status in the Academy of Dentistry International.

Her publications included 130 research articles in national and international journals, 10 outreach articles, four textbook chapters, and three books, as well as 260 short scientific communications presented at specialized dental conferences in Mexico and abroad. Her work appeared in journals such as Archives of Oral Biology, Oral Surgery, Infection and Immunity, American Journal of Infection Control, Salud Pública de México, Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry, Acta Odontologica Scandinavica, Journal of Clinical Paediatric Dentistry, Revista de la ADM, Journal of Dental Education, and Journal of Dental Science, among others.

In the field of Clinical Sciences research, she participated in multiple projects, including: risk factors in cariogenic experience; electromyographic evaluation of mastication in clinically relevant stomatological conditions; dental caries as a factor affecting the eruption of permanent teeth (pilot study); dental fluorosis and nutritional status in children from a community in southwestern Morelos with fluoride levels above optimal in drinking water; analysis of normal parameters in salivary secretion volumes in a longitudinal study of children aged 7 to 12; determination of fluoride levels in water, beverages, and dental fluorosis in 12-year-old populations in the cities of Chihuahua, Durango, and Mexico City; evaluation of glass ionomer sealants in the prevention of dental caries in schoolchildren from a low socioeconomic area in southern Mexico City through a randomized clinical trial; and chronology and sequence of eruption in primary dentition and its relationship with birth weight, sex, and socioeconomic level in infants.