Hernán D. Capador-Barreto is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panamá. In his work, he investigates the eco-evolutionary interactions between fungi and trees, which are key processes for biodiversity regulation, reforestation, and sustainable forestry practices. His research is cross-latitudinal, including work in European forests and the American tropics, where the underexplored and exuberant biodiversity continues to fascinate him. His research integrates genetic data in plants and fungi together with disease resistance traits to uncover the eco-evolutionary foundation of these interactions. Currently he investigates how genetic variation in Virola nobilis (Wild nutmeg) affects its susceptibility to soil pathogens and its distribution on Barro Colorado Island in the Republic of Panama. 

Before joining STRI, Hernán received his doctoral degree from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), with a thesis entitled "Genetics of disease resistance in Norway spruce: a look to the past with an eye to the future". He studied Biology and Industrial Microbiology at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia (B.Sc.) and Plant Biology (M.Sc) at SLU in Uppsala, Sweden.

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