Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Colombo, Professor Vajira Dissanayake, has been appointed as the President of the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC).

According to the Government Medical Offices’ Association (GMOA), the appointment has been made based on the recommendations of the five-member committee of experts appointed by Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi.

GMOA Secretary Dr. Senal Fernando said that the experts’ committee had recommended to remove Prof. Harendra De Silva who had served as President of the Sri Lanka Medical Council and other council members. 

Prof. Vidya Jyothi Vajira H. W. Dissanayake is a pioneer in Genetic and Genomic Medicine, Biomedical Informatics and Bioethics in Sri Lanka. 

He holds the positions of Head and Chair Professor of Anatomy; Director of the Human Genetics Unit; and the Chairperson of the Specialty Board in Biomedical Informatics in the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. 

He is a Past President of the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA); the Current President of the Commonwealth Medical Association and the Health Informatics Society of Sri Lanka (HISSL), an Executive Board Member of the Global Genomic Medicine Collaborative (G2MC); a Board Member of the Forum for Ethics Review Committees in Asia and the Western Pacific (FERCAP), and the Chairman, of the Commonwealth Centre for Digital Health. 

His team has published has over 100 papers in peer reviewed international journals and presented over 250 conference papers in genetics, genomics, bioethics, and biomedical informatics.

He had delivered 5 orations and 66 invited lectures. He is the recipient of 16 national and international research awards. In 2013, he was elected a fellow of the National Academy of Science of Sri Lanka, in recognition of his contribution to the fields of Genetics, Genomics, Bioethics and Biomedical Informatics.