British Lankan doc awarded coveted lectureship in UK

British Sri Lankan Cardiologist with double doctorate awarded prestigious National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Clinical Lectureship in UK

Dr Yanushi Dullewe Wijeyeratne has been awarded the highly competitive NIHR Clinical Lectureship in Cardiology at St George’s, University of London. Dr Wijeyeratne is a Cardiology Specialty Registrar and Fellow in Cardiac Electrophysiology and Implantable Cardiac Devices at London’s St George’s Hospital, one of the largest specialist tertiary cardiac centres in UK.

NIHR Clinical Lectureships in Cardiology are highly sought after in UK, with fewer than ten being awarded each year, and it is an honour for a British Sri Lankan to receive this award.

Dr Wijeyeratne holds a double doctorate, having recently completed her PhD in cardiac genetics and stem cell models of inherited cardiac conditions at the world-renowned Inherited Cardiac Conditions research group at St George’s, University of London.

She is the granddaughter of late Deshamanya Dr Nissanka Wijeyeratne, former Cabinet Minister of Education, Higher Education & Justice, and former Sri Lanka Ambassador to Russia, and of late Mr Tudor Gunasekara, former District Minister to Gampaha and former Sri Lanka Ambassador to Poland.

Dr Wijeyeratne is a past student of the Colombo International School and had her junior school education at the British School in Colombo and Bishop’s College in Colombo. She graduated in Medicine from University of Nottingham in 2009 and gained membership of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP) in London in 2013. She had her general Cardiology training at St George’s Hospital before she commenced her specialisation in Cardiac Electrophysiology at King’s College Hospital in London in 2020.

At St George’s Hospital, Dr Wijeyeratne specialises in Cardiac Electrophysiology (which involves carrying out ablation procedures to treat patients with cardiac arrhythmias) and implanting cardiac devices such as pacemakers and defibrillators to patients with heart rhythm abnormalities, whilst her research is focussed on cardiac genetics and risk stratification in inherited cardiac arrhythmias.