Ceylinco Healthcare Services Ltd. (CHSL) has announced the appointment of Vidya Jyothi Emeritus Prof. Rohan Jayasekara, immediate past Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Colombo, as its Medical Director.
A pioneer in the specialty of human genetics in Sri Lanka, Prof. Jayasekara, M.B.B.S., Ph.D. (N’Cle.U.K) C.Biol. FRSB (Lond.) Hon. FCSSL, Hon. FCOSL, has had an illustrious administrative, teaching and research career spanning 41 years.
Announcing his appointment, CHSL Chairman Mr R. Renganathan said: “Prof. Jayasekara’s knowledge of medicine and his depth of administrative experience will be invaluable to the development of the three centres of excellence owned by Ceylinco Healthcare Services. His expertise in genetics would also be useful to our efforts to identify and help families predisposed to cancer and diabetes to prevent or delay the onset of these diseases through regular screening and healthy lifestyles.”
An Honorary Fellow of the College of Surgeons of Sri Lanka and an Honorary Fellow of the College of Ophthalmologists of Sri Lanka, Prof. Jayasekara was the Chair and Senior Professor of Anatomy and the Founder Director of the Colombo University’s Human Genetics Unit which he established in 1983.
He is a Fellow of the Galton Institute, London; a Chartered Biologist; a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, London; a Commonwealth Scholar and a Commonwealth Senior Medical Fellow. In addition, he holds a PhD in Cytogenetics, which he obtained in 1981 while on a Commonwealth Research Scholarship.
Prof. Jayasekara acquired his postdoctoral experience as a Commonwealth Senior Medical Fellow at Guys Hospital London and the Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge. He was the recipient of numerous World Health Organisation (WHO) Fellowships and Visiting Scientist grants, with which he received further research experience in Genetics at the Centre for Birth Defects in Alabama, the National University of Singapore, Mahidol University in Bangkok, Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney and at the University of Hong Kong. As a researcher, he has published extensively and is the recipient of the President’s Award for Scientific Publications for the past six years.
His new appointment covers the two Radiation Treatment Centres and the Diabetes Centre operated by Ceylinco Healthcare Services Ltd.
CHSL’s first Radiation Treatment Unit introduced the Linear Accelerator to Sri Lanka in September 2007 and has treated more than 3,600 patients to date. The Linear Accelerator, and the TomoTherapy unit which followed, represent the most advanced treatment techniques available in Sri Lanka in the sphere of radiation oncology. The only one of its kind in Sri Lanka, the Ceylinco TomoTherapy Centre offers a new dimension in high precision image-guided radiation therapy for the treatment of many forms of cancer, and has to date treated 440 patients.
Besides the two radiation treatment units, Ceylinco Healthcare Services owns and operates the Ceylinco Diabetes Centre, offering comprehensive screening, diagnostic services and medical care.