SLMA to honour Prof Malik Peiris

Edward Arambewela

Sri Lanka Medical Association President Prof. Lalitha Mendis, told a press conference yesterday, that the SLMA was honouring a Sri Lankan doctor now in Singapore who is credited for having isolating the causal agent for SARS by inviting him to be the chief guest at the SLMA 121st Annual Scientific Sessions opening at Cinnamon Grand Hotel on March 19.

Prof. Mendis said the Sri Lankan doctor honoured, is Prof. Malik Peiris who is the Chair Professor of the Department of Microbiology of the University of Hong Kong.

Professor Mendis said: “Sri Lanka Medical Association is the premier professional Medical Association in Sri Lanka, which brings together medical practitioners of all grades and all branches of medicine. The SLMA is in fact the oldest medical organisation in Australasia with a proud history dating from 1887.

Academic activity has been a key component of the SLMA from its inception. Today, the SLMA Academic Sessions are the best attended and most eagerly awaited medical conference in Sri Lanka. These sessions are organised up to the international standards. Results of original Sri Lankan medical research are presented at these sessions and guest lectures and symposia are arranged on important issues in the world of medicine.

The 121st Annual Scientific Sessions will be held from March 19 to 22, 2008 at Cinnamon Grand Hotel, Colombo. Prof. JMS Peiris (Chair Professor, Department of Microbiology, University of Hong Kong) will be the chief guest and S Arulkumaran (Professor and Head, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, St George’s Hospital, University of London, UK) will be the guest of honour.

The highlights of this year’s sessions are the inauguration and the SLMA oration will be held on March 19, 2008 at 6.00 p.m. onwards at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel. Dr. Vajira H.W. Dissanayake of Human Genetics Unit, (Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo) will take on preeclampsia and the weight of babies at birth - clinical and genetic studies in Sri Lanka. S.C. Paul oration will be held on March 21, 2008, at 5.45 p.m. onwards. Dr. M V F Jayasuriya of the Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura will talk on ‘intimate partner violence in the Western Province of Sri Lanka’.

Apart form this there will be several sessions covering current important topics such as primary care and public health, medical education, health system management, trauma care in Sri Lanka towards safer motherhood, liberalisation of trade and health services, problems of internally displaced people and patient safety and safety in practice.

About the chief guest and guest of honour

Prof. Malik Peiris was born in Sri Lanka and qualified MBBS from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya. He has a PhD from Oxford. Prof. Peiris was responsible for isolating the casual agent of SARS and was featured with co-worker Guan and his team in TIME magazine by Karl Taro Greenfield as Asian heroes who contributed most to the control of SARS.

He did important research on Japanese encephalitis while he was in Sri Lanka and is also an authority on avian (bird) flu.

Prof. S. Arulkumaran qualified MBBS at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Colombo. He worked for awhile in Sri Lanka and moved to Singapore where he became the Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the National University of Singapore.

He then moved to the UK and is currently Professor and Head, Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, St. George’s Hospital Medical School. He is the first Asian to be appointed as the President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. He has special training in colposcope and is an authority on Foetal monitoring.

He has published over 240 internationally reviewed articles written about 25 books and a contributed over 150 chapters to books.

The press conference was attended by Prof. Colvin Goonaratne, Dr. Preethi Wijegoonewardene, Dr. Kremlin and Wickremasinghe.