Dr. Dilushi Rowena Wijayaratne

Dilushi Wijayaratne is a Senior Lecturer in Clinical Medicine in the Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, and an Honorary Consultant Nephrologist at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka and the National Institute of Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation.

She graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, Colombo in 2010 with First Class Honours, 8 distinctions and 17 gold medals, including the “Student of the Year” awarded by the University of Colombo, for academic excellence, sportsmanship, proven leadership among peers and exemplary character. She received the Dr Soma de Sylva award, awarded by the Ceylon College of Physicians, for best performance at the MD selection examination 2013 and went on to complete the MD(Medicine) in 2016, receiving the Dr. John F. Stokes Gold Medal for the best performance. She trained in nephrology at the University Medical Unit, Colombo and the Royal Free Hospital London, and was board certified as a Specialist Nephrologist in 2020. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP), UK, and a Fellow of the International Society of Nephrology (FISN).

Dr Wijayaratne has an MSc in Clinical Trials (2023), awarded by the University of Oxford. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) in the Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, on a full scholarship, researching the effects of empagliflozin on the proteome in chronic kidney disease.

She has been awarded multiple research grants for her work, including a grant from the International Society of Nephrology for studying kidney supportive care in Sri Lanka and the GlomCon Physician scholarship for research into infection-related glomerular diseases. Her other research interests include lupus nephritis, IgA nephropathy, chronic kidney disease, ethics in kidney disease, and education.

She is committed to developing services and patient well-being and is developing a peritoneal dialysis service and a kidney supportive care programme in the unit, together with electronic data systems for improving the quality of care and research infrastructure.

She is Deputy Chair of Social Media of the International Society of Nephrology (ISN), a member of the ISN train-the-trainer programme, which works to improve care of women with kidney disease in pregnancy though education, research, and advocacy, and a course instructor for GlomCon, a global fellowship programme in glomerular diseases for early career nephrologists and trainees. She has completed a SAARC fellowship in onconephrology and is currently enrolled in the GlomCon: Polycystic Kidney Disease: Medical Directorship programme.

She has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals, two book chapters, and a Handbook in Peritoneal Dialysis, for staff and patients, available in English, Sinhala and Tamil.

She is a member of the Council of the Sri Lanka Society of Nephrology and the South Asian Regional Board of the ISN, and a member of the Leadership forum of the Ceylon College of Physicians.