The story of the Department of Microbiology begins in 1965 when teaching for the 1st batch began. From that time, our history is studded by such extraordinary academic luminaries as Prof S.N. Areseculratne, the original thinker and researcher who set the tone for a forward thinking department, Prof. J.S.M. Peiris (6th batch), one of, if not the most highly regarded Sri Lankan scientists in the world, who started virology in Peradeniya, Prof. Vasanthi Thevanesam (6th batch), who carried the department on her shoulders through the tumultuous 90’s, and on into the 21st century, establishing, developing and maintaining almost all the teaching, clinical services and training, diagnostics services and research laboratories we currently have. The staff who held the department together, who worked for decades, unheard and unsung were all part of this great effort, to establish, develop, and maintain microbiology and immunology teaching, services and research in a country going through continuous change.

We do not know who we are unless we know where we came from. Our history tells us on whose shoulders we stand today. The journey of the first 50 years (1962-2012) were documented in the Perademiya Medical School 50th Anniversary Commemorative Volume (PMSCV50) which contains the history of the faculty up to that time. The chapter on the Department of Microbiology is attached here telling the story of our origins in the words of those pioneers who built this place.