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| Dr. Damitha Asanga Gunawardane |
| Senior Lecturer |
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Dept. of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya |
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damitha.gunawardane@med.pdn.ac.lk, damithagunawardane@gmail.com, damithaccp@gamil.com |
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+94 77 200 4317 |
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+94 81 238 9106 |
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https://scholar.google.com/citations |
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https://www.researchgate.net/ |
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| Educational / Professional Qualifications |
- Board Certification as a specialist in Community Medicine (4th of January 2017) - Post Graduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka
- MD in Community Medicine (1st of December 2015) - Post Graduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka
Doctoral Thesis – “The neonatal outcomes, maternal risk factors and neonatal care cost of ‘adverse neonatal outcome’ following term deliveries at teaching hospital kandy”
- MSc in Community Medicine (1st of April 2012) - Post Graduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka
Masters Dissertation – “Level of fatigue and daytime sleepiness among heavy vehicle drivers in Sri Lanka.”
- Sri Lanka Medical Council Registration as a medical practitioner (24930)
- MBBS Degree (1st of July 2007) - Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
- Certificate on Monitoring and Evaluation of Health Programmes (2017) by the Indian Institute of Public Health – Delhi
- Certificate on International Classification of Diseases (10th Revision) Morbidity and Mortality Coding (WHO-FIC-IFHMA Accredited)(2016) by WHO Collaboration Center, National Institute of Health Sciences , Kaluthara, Sri Lanka.
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| Research Interest |
- Maternal, child and newborn health
- Health economic evaluation / Health technology assessment
- Disease burden and classification
- Public health policy
- Medical statistics (Time series, Factor analysis, Meta-analysis, and survival analysis)
- Monitoring and evaluation Health programme
- Tool validation
- Road traffic accidents
- Health care standards and quality improvement
- Workload Indicators of Staffing Need (WISN)
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| Orations, Awards and Scholarships |
| Orations |
| 2024 |
“Sri Lankan newborns; improving survival and well-being” Bibile memorial oration at the KSM annual academic sessions 2024. |
| 2023 |
"Are term neonates too small to be seen? Sri Lankan scenario.”
Dr AVKV de Silva Oration 2023 of the College of Community
Physicians of Sri Lanka. |
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| Awards and Scholarships |
| 2019 |
Invited and participated as a resource person in a joint workshop organized by Interacademy partnership and UK Academy of Medical Sciences, on universal health coverage in Low- and Middle-income countries in May 2019, London , UK. |
| 2018 |
Selected as a young physician leader by the IAP for Health to participate in the Young Physician Leaders programme in conjunction with the World Health Summit 2018, Berlin, Germany, held 11-16th October 2018Awarded by Intra Academy Medical Panel and the World Academy of Sciences for 20 outstanding young physician leaders in the world aged under 40 years – Berlin, Germany. Under this selection, I completed their leadership training programme. |
| 2017 | Post-doctoral research fellowship at Health Economics and Policy Unit, School of Public Health, University of Adelaide. |
| 2016 | Won 1st place in oral presentations on "Maternal & Child Health and Nutrition" at the 21st Annual scientific sessions of College of Community Physicians of Sri Lanka held 1-3 September 2016. |
| 2015 | Certificate of achievement in recognition of the contribution made to the community empowerment, health and nutrition promotion through active interest taken in the Mother’s Support Group programme awarded by the Health Education Bureau, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka. |
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| Positions Held - University |
- Senior Lecturer, Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Peradeniya (04/2021 to date)
- Co-Coordinator - Internal Quality Assurance Committee (03/2025 to date)
- Deputy Proctor, Faculty of Medicine, University of
Peradeniya (10/2024 to date)
- President - Peradeniya Faculty of Medicine Teachers’
Association (2025-26)
- Head of the E-Library , Faculty of Medicine.University of
Peradeniya. (03/2022 – 09/2024)
- Member of the Board of Study in Multidisciplinary Study
Courses of Postgraduate Institute Of Medicine, University of Colombo. (01/2024 to date)
- Member of the Monitoring and Evaluation Committee of
the Faculty of Medicine Peradeniya (Since 2022)
- Member of the Curriculum Development Committee (CDC) of
the Faculty of Medicine Peradeniya (Since 2022)
- Member of the Faculty Good Acceptance Committee for
purchasing IT equipment for the year 2022
- Member of the Publication Committee of the Faculty of
Medicine, University of Peradeniya.(Since 2022)
- External member of the Ethics Review Committee of the
Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, University of Peradeniya
for the year 2024.
- Member of the University SER writing committee of
Institutional Review 2023 – Criterion 2 (2023)
- Member of Faculty Review Committee (FReC) for MOUs and
Agreements (2023)
- IT Service committee representative of Faculty of Medicine,
University of Peradeniya (Since 2022)
- Faculty representative of University Safety Committee,
University of Peradeniya. (Since 2021)
- Coordinator of the student exchange programmes with
Hokkaide University and Nagita University , Japan. (Since 2022)
- Member of Faculty Sexual and Gender Based Violence
(SGBV) Prevention Committee (Since 2022)
- Research Assistant – Department of Anesthesia, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya (2007 – 05/2008)
Responsibilities – Contributed to the planning and development of research proposals and the conduct of the studies
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| Positions Held - Ministry of Health |
- Consultant Community Physician (Planning) - Provincial Director of Health Services Office, Central Province (06 /2019 – 04/2021)
- Consultant Community Physician(Planning) - Regional Director of Health Services Office, Nuwaraeliya (02 /2019 – 06/2019)
- Act. Consultant Community Physician (Planning) - Regional Director of Health Services Office, Kegalle (10/2018 – 02/2018)
- Act. Consultant Community Physician – Preventive Health Regional Director of Health Services Office, Kandy (04/2018 – 10/2018)
- Senior Registrar in Community Medicine at Family Health Bureau, Sri Lanka (02/2016 – 07/2016)
- Medical Officer of Maternal and Child health -Kandy District, Sri Lanka (08/2015 – 01/2016)
- Medical Officer of Maternal and Child health -Kegalle District, Sri Lanka (02/2012 – 09/2013)
- Additional Medical Officer of Health at MOH Kanthale, Trincomalee, Sri Lanka (09/2009 – 10/2010)
- Medical Officer – Primary Care Unit, Teaching Hospital Peradeniya, Sri Lanka (10/2010 – 11/2011)
- Relief Medical Officer, Radiology Unit, DGH Matale, Sri Lanka (07/2009 – 09/2009)
- Intern Medical Officer (Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology), District General Hospital (DGH) Matale, Sri Lanka (07/2008 – 07/2009)
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| Teaching Experience (Undergraduate) |
- Senior Lecturer, Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Peradeniya (04/2021 to date)
Conduct lecturers on medical statistics, demography and
maternal child health.
- I have served as a visiting lecturer of the Department of
Botany, Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya:
Module taught, - MIC 4062 Biosecurity - Basic Infectious
Disease Concepts and Bioterrorism - Academic Year
2021/2022 and 2022/2023
- External examiner - Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayawardanapura (2021/2022)
Responsibility – Examiner for the Research Viva of 4th year medical undergraduates
- External examiner - Department of Community Medicine,
Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya.(2019/2020)
Responsibility – Examiner for the Research Viva of 4th year
medical undergraduates.
- Senior Registrar in Community Medicine, Department of
Community Medicine,
Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya. (09/2016 – 01/2017)
Responsibilities –
Involved in teaching and training medical undergraduates.(This included review of student research projects and
supervising student seminar presentations.)
- Visiting Lecturer – Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Rajarata, Sri Lanka (11/2011 – 10/2013)
Responsibilities – Conducted lectures on Statistical methods in Biology for the graduate students , who are following the degree in health promotion. (Teacher/ Examiner)
- Visiting Lecturer – Regional Training Center (Kadugannawa),
Provincial (09/2013 – 06/2015) Directorate of Health Services, Central Province, Sri Lanka.
Responsibilities –Conducted lectures on public health services,
Research methodology and statistics for Public Health Midwives,
Nursing Officers, Public Health Inspectors and Medical Officers
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| Teaching Experience (Postgraduate) |
- Visiting Lecturer – Postgraduate Institute of Medicine,
University of Colombo. (2021 to date)
Responsibilities – Conducted lectures on medical statistics for
MSc Community Medicine and MD Community Medicine
courses
- Visiting Lecturer – Postgraduate Institute of Medicine,
University of Colombo. (2025)
Responsibilities – Conducted lectures on medical statistics for
MSc Medical Administration course
- Visiting lecturer – Postgraduate Institute of Science,
University of Peradeniya. (2019 - 2022)
Responsibility – Conduct lectures for the MSc programme in
Applied Epidemiology. (Teacher/ Examiner)
- Visiting Lecturer – Postgraduate Institute of Medicine,
University of Colombo.(2019)
Responsibilities – Conducted lectures on medical statistics for
MSc Medical administration course
- Post-doctoral research fellow, Health Economics and Policy
Unit, School of Public Health, University of Adelaide. (03/2017 – 03/2018)
Responsibilities – Apart from the research activities, two
reports were done on selected aspects of public health systems
in South Australia.
- Visiting Lecturer ? Postgraduate Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences (PGIHS), University of Peradeniya (10/2016 ? 01/2017)
Responsibilities ? Conducted lectures on public health for graduate students following the Master of Development Practice programme conducted by the Department of Economics and Statistics, Faculty of Arts, The University of Peradeniya. (Teacher/ Examiner)
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| Memberships |
- Member of the national committee, for the development of Every Newborn Action Plan in Sri Lanka.
- Member of national resource pool, on Gender-based violence in Sri Lanka.
- Take part in developing and piloting national quality assessment tools on maternal, newborn and child health in curative sector institutions.
- Member of Sri Lankan Every Newborn Action Plan (SLENAP) advisory Committee
- Member of Sri Lanka Medical Association
- Member of College of Community Physicians, Sri Lanka.
- Member of Road Traffic Injuries Research Network (RTIRN)
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