Researcher Name

I graduated MBBS with First Class Honours from the University of Colombo, with Distinctions in Clinical medicine, Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Pathology, winning the Andrew Caldecott Medal for the Final MBBS. I completed my MD in Medicine at the University of Colombo in 2017 and completed my overseas clinical component at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

In 2019, I was awarded a Clarendon Scholarship by the University of Oxford to read a DPhil in Clinical Medicine focusing on Cellular and Molecular Immunology at the Translational Immune Discovery Unit at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine. My interest was in applying single cell based immune approaches such as single cell transcriptomics, mass cytometry and single cell spatial transcriptomics to elucidate pathogenic mechanisms in acute lung diseases such as COVID 19 and chronic fibrotic pulmonary diseases such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and fibrotic sarcoidosis. In Oxford I coordinated a group of mathematicians and bioinformaticians to develop an end to end spatial analysis pipeline; the Spatial Omics Oxford Pipeline (SpOOX). I continue to collaborate with the University of Oxford on several projects including ongoing work on the single cell deconvolution of the immune response in Bleomycin challenged mice and single cell spatial transcriptomics in fibrotic pulmonary diseases

I am also interested in the broad theme of neglected tropical diseases (NTD). Research in resource limited settings is challenging as it is frequently impeded by lack of infrastructure, motivation and investment. However, over the years I have been able to progress research in tropical medicine, infectious disease, immunology and evidence synthesis in Sri Lanka. I aim to enhance this work by focusing on developing models for severity prediction of NTDs and elucidation of immune pathogenesis and biomarkers.

I was instrumental in setting up the Colombo Dengue Study (CDS) in collaboration with the University of New South Wales. The CDS is a prospective cohort study of dengue patients recruiting from Colombo, Sri Lanka since 2018 to explore the pathophysiology of plasma leakage, improving cost-effective management of dengue patients, and characterizing missed infections that mimic dengue in resource limited settings. Completed projects from CDS designed cheaper dengue diagnostics, developed a new assay for dengue whole genome sequencing, characterized the syndrome of post-dengue fatigue, developed triaging to prioritize patients for ultrasonography in resource limited settings, estimated direct costs of managing dengue patients in Sri Lanka, discovered evidence for potentially endemic Zika infection in Sri Lanka, made a machine-learning based early risk prediction tool for plasma leakage using demographic and clinical data only, traced sources of seasonal Sri Lankan dengue outbreaks phylogeographically. More recent outputs from the CDS include an initial determination of circulating biomarkers in relation to plasma leakage and pathogen correlates of severe disease.

I am currently a Senior Lecturer in Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo with involvement in all aspects of undergraduate and postgraduate medical education. I was part of the lead core group of a team securing a AHEAD grant to set up a simulation laboratory at the University and am currently leading curricular development in simulation based medical training for undergraduates. I also perform regular clinical duties in general medicine at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka.

As honorary secretary of the Ceylon College of Physicians I am engaged in furthering academic activities related to medicine and enhancing connectivity and fellowship among physicians in Sri Lanka and beyond.

It is my vision to promote immunology research in the region, to bride the interface between clinical medicine and basic science and to develop innovations with relevance to patient care and management.