Completed doctoral studies in Medical Microbiology in 1986 and became a Professor in Microbiology 2001 and held the position of Dean and Chair Professor of Microbiology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo until 2020. She completed a PG Diplomas in Medical Education and Women’s studies from Universities of Dundee and Colombo respectively. She completed a MBA from University of Wales. She is a fellow of the Sri Lanka College of Microbiologists and National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka.

for 40 years and postgraduates for 32 years. Have served in numerous committees related to curriculum and examinations in the Faculty of Medicine, Colombo. She was an active member in the re -orientation of medical curriculum that was launched in 1996. She has attended numerous staff development programmes for self-development and later became a resource person for staff development programmes. She has been an active member of the curriculum development and evaluation committee for over 20 years. She has reviewed medical curricula of over 10 countries who have applied for recognition in the Sri Lanka Medical Council including site visits for some. She has also reviewed curricula and organisations for both non-state sector and state sector branches of the Higher Education Ministry

She has contributed to Microbiology related life sciences through conduct of research and in the process contributed to human resource development. Pioneered the use of Molecular Biology for the diagnosis of infectious diseases in general and specifically tuberculosis in Sri Lanka. Contributed to the literature on rapid diagnosis of tuberculosis and drug resistance of M tuberculosis using molecular methods. The drug susceptibility of non-tuberculous mycobacteria was another aspect that was studied extensively as it has become a clinical problem. Antimicrobial resistance of other bacterial pathogens including, S aureus, S pyogenes, S pneumoniae, Salmonella and Enterobacteria spp were studied both at phenotypic and molecular level as these have created challenging issues in the clinical management of patients. She has supervised over 20 MD dissertations and MPhils and supervised 4 PhD Students as their principal supervisor and won NSF research awards and Presidential awards and contributed as a resource person in many research forums. Has won numerous awards for best oral and poster presentations in scientific sessions locally and overseas. She has a wide repertoire of research interests including womens’ health and career development research. Medical education is another area of interest and conducted research on improving educational achievement of students. She has an impressive research record and the current h index is 30, i10 index is 46 with 4377 citations.

Have contributed as a member of numerous consultative meetings in relation to infectious diseases, health, research, women’s health and education most of which were held as consultations leading to policy and/ or action plan formulation.