The Induction Ceremony of Prof. Manuj Weerasinghe as the 81st President of the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science was held on Sunday, 03rd January 2021 5.30 p.m. in SLAAS Auditorium, Vidya Mandiraya, Colombo 7.
The ceremony was a very grand event, and the chief guest of the ceremony was Dr. Palitha Abeykoon, Director Generals’ Special Envoy for COVID-19 preparedness and response, World Health Organization, while Dr. Lalani Rajapaksa, a past president of SLAAS, graced the occasion as the guest of honour. Prof. Weerasinghe was ceremonially sworn in by the outgoing president, Prof. Sumedha Jayaneththi.
During his speech as General President of SLAAS for the year 2022, Prof. Manuj Weerasinghe announced “Effective Science Communication for an Informed Society” as the SLAAS theme for the year 2022. In his speech, Prof. Manuj discussed the history of science communication in Sri Lanka and the present status too. And also, he put forward a list of proposals to uplift science communication in Sri Lanka that are to be done with the guidance of SLAAS.
Dr. Manuj Crishanta Weeresainghe is currently a professor in community medicine and the head of the Department of Community Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Colombo. He’s also the chair of the board of studies in community medicine at the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine.
As a student at Royal College Colombo, he excelled in many extracurricular activities, including sports. He also represented the faculty and the University of Colombo in basketball and football and was awarded University of Colombo colors for these events.
Prof. Manuj obtained his MBBS degree with honors from the University of Colombo and obtained the Master of Science in Community Medicine and Dr. of Community Medicine from the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine. Later, he joined the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh, USA as a postdoctoral fellow and worked on policy and health program evaluation.
In addition to his qualifications and community medicine, He holds a postgraduate diploma in applied sociology from the University of Colombo, Prof. Weerasinghe has published extensively and so far has over 50 research articles in indexed journals, several book chapters, and Mary research reports under his authorship.
He has also been the recipient of many awards for research, including the presidential award for scientific publications and the NRC merit award on several occasions.
He has served as the chairman of the strategic information and management, subcommittee of the national AIDS community. And as a member of the national advisory committee on communicable diseases, the food, advertising, and labeling subcommittee on the Ministry of Health, the health sector committee that developed the national research and development framework. And currently, he serves as a member of the National Health Research Council and the Board of Management, Institute of Indigenous Medicine of the University of Colombo. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, he served as a member of the technical advisory committee on COVID-19 for the Ministry of Health.
Outgoing General President Prof. Sumedha Jayaneththi, council members of the Sri Lankan Association for the Advancement of Science, the past president of the association, distinguished invitees and members of SLAAS were present on the occasion.
