Dr Iresha Jayawickrama joined CaHRU this October 2019 as an international visiting fellow from the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. She completed her primary medical education in 2006 at the Central South University of China with a scholarship awarded by the government of Sri Lanka. This was followed by a Master’s (MSc) in Community Medicine in 2012 and MD in Community Medicine in 2018 from the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine (PGIM) of the University of Colombo.
She started her career in Public Health, as a divisional level manager of the preventive health care system in the Eastern part of Sri Lanka. Later, she worked as a Regional 
Epidemiologist responsible for controlling communicable diseases in the district. At the Ministry of Health, she has worked in different capacities including as a registrar in Community Medicine at the Monitoring and Evaluation Unit of Family Health Bureau, and at the Training Unit of Health Promotion Bureau. She also worked as a Senior Registrar in Community Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya and at the Directorate of Mental Health.
During Dr Jayawickrama’s academic and professional career, she has researched, published, trained and given presentations on a wide range of public health topics including child mental health, prevention of non-communicable and communicable diseases, health promotion at village and school settings, and maternal and child health. She is a member of several academic associations in Sri Lanka including the College of Community Physicians of Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka Medical Association.
While at CaHRU, Dr Jayawickrama plans to: improve her knowledge and skills in advanced epidemiology and statistics, and their application to primary and prehospital healthcare; develop skills in conducting and coordinating research activities with respect to primary and prehospital healthcare quality improvement; gain experience and skills on planning and implementing health care delivery systems designed to improve primary and prehospital healthcare. In her spare time she likes listening to music, visiting bird sanctuaries and enjoying wild life with her family.
By Dr Iresha Jayawickrama