| Professor U. S. Jayawickrama | |
|---|---|
Professor US Jayawikrama and Mrs Preani Jayawickrama |
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| Nationality | Sri Lankan |
| Occupation | Physician |
| Known for | Founder Diabetes Association of Sri Lanka, First Physician in Sri Lanka to declare Endocrinology as a special interest, Professor Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, artist and sculptor |
| Title | Professor |
U. Srinath Jayawickrama, FRCP is a Sri Lankan physician (Endocrinologist) and an artist. He was the founder Diabetes Association of Sri Lanka and Professor of Pharmacology at the North Colombo Medical College.
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Jayawickrama was educated at Richmond College, Galle and Royal College Colombo [1] and Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo qualifying Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery and Doctor of Medicine.
Having spent two years as a trainee under Professor PB Fernando he travelled to the United Kingdom for further studies, becoming first a Member and then a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.
On his return to Sri Lanka he worked in Nuwara Eliya as a visiting physician and in 1970 was appointed consultant physician at General Hospital Colombo (later National Hospital of Sri Lanka), a post he occupied for 20 years working with colleagues Surendra Ramachandran (with whom he co founded the medical intensive care unit in National Hospital of Sri Lanka), P.T. de Silva, W.A.S. de Silva, and J.B. Peiris till his retirement in 1990. He trained many leading physicians such as gastroenterologist Janaka de Silva.[2] and endocrinologist Devaka Fernando.
Jayawickrama taught clinical pharamacology and therapeutics at the University of Colombo as an honorary senior lecturer and was later appointed professor of pharmacology in the North Colombo Medical College. He served on the Board of Study in Medicine at the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine and was its Chairman from 1989 to 1992.
Jayawickrama was the president of the Ceylon College of Physicians in 1983[3] and was the founding president of the Diabetes Association of Sri Lanka in addition to being a founder member of the Endocrine Society of Sri Lanka. He is credited with being the founder of Endocrinology as a speciality in Sri Lanka [4].
Jayawickrama and his wife Preani were artists and sculptors of repute with Preani working with tapestry and Faberge egg replicas and Jayawickrama mainly in copper and wood being well known for portraits in this medium. Well known subjects to have portraits commissioned included Chandrika Kumaratunga President of Sri Lanka and G. L. Peiris.