Orations

Latest: College Oration 2026

The College Oration 2026 was delivered on 21 July 2026 at Hotel Galadari, Colombo, during the celebrations marking the centenary of community health service in Sri Lanka and the Public Health Summit, by Senior Professor Sunitha Rohini De Alwis Seneviratne, Emeritus Professor in Community Medicine, University of Colombo, and Senior Professor in Community Medicine, General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, on “A Journey Through Time: The History of Public Health and Wellbeing in Sri Lanka.”

The College holds three orations each year, delivered by leading experts in community medicine and public health to audiences from government, academia, public health and the community.

College Oration

Year	Orator	Title
2026	Senior Professor Sunitha Rohini De Alwis Seneviratne	A Journey Through Time: The History of Public Health and Wellbeing in Sri Lanka
2024	Prof. Buddhi Marambe	Global Warming to Global Boiling?
2023	Prof. A Pathmeswaran	Universal Health Coverage: From Rhetoric to Reality
2022	Prof. Sirimal Abeyrathna	Macroeconomic Resilience: Why It Is Important
2021	Prof. Gagandeep Kang	Vaccines and Vaccination for SARS-CoV-2
2018	Prof. Harendra de Silva	An Unstable Country, Causes, and Governance
2017	Prof. Maithree Wickramasinghe	Medical Research, Innovation, and Practice – The Ethics of Gender
2016	Prof. Wasantha Gunathunga	Researching into ‘Mind’: The Lost Paradigm in Modern Medicine
2010	Prof. Lalini Rajapaksa	Addressing Health Inequality: Then and Now
2009	Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne	Caring for internally displaced: A personal journey of a Community Physician
2008	Dr. D N Fernando	Urbanization and Health

Dr. A.V.K.V. De Silva Oration

Year	Orator	Title
2025	Dr. Chithramali Hasanthika Rodrigo	Wellbeing among Menopausal Women in Sri Lanka; Navigating the Way Forward
2024	Dr. Kaushalya Kasturiaratchi	Digitalizing the Close Eye: Innovations in Monitoring National MCH Services
2023	Dr. Damith Gunawardena	Are Term Neonates Too Small to Be Seen? Sri Lankan Scenario
2022	Dr. Amila Malavige	Committing to Leave No One Behind: Improving Prison Health Sector
2019	Dr. Yasara Samarakoon	Preventing Colorectal Cancer in Sri Lanka: The Way Forward
2017	Dr. Sameera Senanayake	Chronic Kidney Disease in Sri Lanka: A Glimpse of the Lives
2016	Dr. Deepa Gamage	Cervical Cancer: Preventable Deaths of Women to Shape up the Future
2016	Dr. Suraj Perera	Cancer Prevention & Control in the Context of an Integrated Approach
2014	Dr. Aindralal Balasuriya	Future Cancer Burden in Sri Lanka: Role of the Community Physician
2012	Dr. Sujitha Samarakoon	AIDS: Past, Present, and Future
2012	Dr. Paba Palihawadana	Challenges of the Millennium: Public Health Road Map
2011	Dr. Nihal Abeysinghe	Development of Healthcare in Sri Lanka 1948–2009
2009	Dr. Chrishantha Abeysena	Adverse Pregnancy Outcome: Do We Know the Risk Factors?

Dr. F.A. Wickremasinghe Oration

Year	Orator	Title
2026	Dr. Nuwan Thotawaththa	Storytelling for Health: Narrative Nonfiction as a Communication Strategy in Child and Family Health Promotion in Sri Lanka
2024	Dr. H. M. Buddhini Herath Denuwara	Exploring the Horizon of Occupational Health in the Education System: Reducing Teacher Stress
2023	Dr. Lathika Athauda	What Determines Alcohol Drinking among Adolescents in Sri Lanka
2022	Dr. Dimuth Peiris	A Push towards Sri Lanka’s Stagnant Infant Mortality: Prioritizing Preterm Births
2021	Dr. Nuwan Wickramasinghe	Burnout: A Burning Issue among Sri Lankan Students
2019	Dr. Dhammica S Rowel	Twenty-Five Years of Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative in Sri Lanka: 1992–2017
2018	Dr. Anuji Gamage	The Hidden Facets of Hypertension among Workers
2017	Dr. Ishanka Thalagala	Oesophageal Cancer: Neglected Volcano in Sri Lanka
2016	Dr. Manuja Perera	Capturing Empowerment in Public Health: The Experience from Tobacco Control in a Rural Setting
2015	Dr. Vindya Kumarapeli	Beyond Borders: Enhancing Public Health Security at Points of Entry to Sri Lanka
2014	Dr. Anuradhani Kasthuriratne	Hypertension through a Public Health Lens
2013	Dr. Palitha Abeykoon	Health of the Public of Sri Lanka in the 21st Century
2012	Dr. Sumal Nandasena	Air Pollution and Public Health in Developing Countries: Is Sri Lanka Different?
2011	Prof. Rohan Jayasuriya	Translational Research from RCT to Policy: How Can Sri Lanka Learn from the NCD Epidemic in the West
2009	Dr. Roshini Peiris John	Pesticides: The Silent Spring, The Rumblings of an Avalanche