| Deshabandu C G Uragoda | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Sri Lankan |
| Occupation | Chest Physician |
| Known for | Medical Research into occupational lung disease, Social anthropology of Medicine in Sri Lanka, Wild Life Conservation in Sri Lanka, Medical Historian, Journal Editor |
| Title | Deshabandu |
Dr Christopher Gunapala Uragoda MBBS (Ceylon), MD (Ceylon), Hon. DSc (Colombo), FRCP (Edin), FRCP (Glasg)known as Chris Uragoda is a Sri Lankan Physician, Author, Folklorist, Historian and Conservationist
Uragoda was educated at Richmond College (Sri Lanka), Mahinda College, Ananda College [1] and Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo qualifying Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery and Doctor of Medicine. He trained in the UK becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and working as a Consultant in Respiratory Medicine. In Sri Lanka he was Physician-in-Charge, Central Chest Clinic, Colombo and Physician at Chest Hospital, Welisera. He is a Member of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine of the RCP London, and was a member of the WHO Expert Panel on Tuberculosis.
Uragoda is best known for his work in Occupational Lung disease caused by dust of chilli, tea, kapok, cinnamon, coir, ilmenite, and activated carbon.
In addition to books on medicine, he wrote on Wildlife Conservation in Sri Lanka. He was the Joint Editor of the Ceylon Medical Journal (succeeded by Janaka de Silva but remaining an editor emeritus), the Journal of the Ceylon College of Physicians and Journal of the National Academy of Sciences.
Uragoda was the President of Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Medical Association and Ceylon College of Physicians. Uragoda has received awards for research, which include the Guinness Award in 1980, Peter Pillai Award in 1981, President’s Award of the National Research Education and Science Authority in 1996, and the Sarvodaya Award in 1999.The The Royal Asiatic Society Sri Lanka awarded him the Hilda Obeysekera Medal.
Uragoda was awarded the title Deshabandu by the Government of Sri Lanka.[2] He is a Fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians, Fellow of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians, London, Fellow of the Ceylon College of Physicians; Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka, and Honorary Fellow of the College of General Practitioners of Sri Lanka