Prof. Kosala Weerakoon

Professor

Department of Parasitology

Faculty of Medicine and Allied Science

Rajarata University of Sri Lanka

Saliyapura 50008

Sri Lanka

Visiting Scientist

Molecular Parasitology Laboratory

QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute

Brisbane 4006

QLD

Australia

MBBS (Peradeniya), PGDipApStat, MPhil (Peradeniya), PhD (Queensland), FRSPH (UK)

AWARDS

• Queensland Health and Medical Research Postgraduate Student Award - Finalist: Australian Society for Medical Research (ASMR) - 2018.
• Deans award for research publications: Faculty of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka - 2018.
• Deans award for research publications: Faculty of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka - 2017.
• President’s award for scientific publications in 2016. National Research Council (NRC), Sri Lanka.
• President’s award for scientific publications in 2015. National Research Council (NRC), Sri Lanka.
• President’s award for scientific publications in 2014. National Research Council (NRC), Sri Lanka.
• Best publication by a physician in 2014, award by the Ceylon college of physicians for the publication ‘Revisiting Russell’s Viper (Daboia russelli) bite in Sri Lanka: Is abdominal pain an early feature of systemic envenoming?’.
• Deans award for research publications: Faculty of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka - 2014.
• National Research Council (NRC) of Sri Lanka, merit award for scientific publications in 2013.
• Gold medal for the best presentation in Medicine and Allied sciences at 3rd Annual research symposium, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka:  Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. February 2013.
• President’s award for scientific publications in 2012. National Research Council, Sri Lanka.
•  S. Ramachandran prize for the best Sri Lankan paper in nephrology, for the presentation of ‘Snake bite causing chronic kidney disease: analysis of 42 cases in the Nephrology unit, Kandy, Sri Lanka’. Annual Scientific Sessions, Sri Lanka Medical Association. Colombo, Sri Lanka. June 2010.

• Dr. S. Ramachandran Memorial Oration 2019: Delivered at the 132nd Anniversary International Medical Congress of the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) on 26th July 2019, Colombo, Sri Lanka.  ‘’Diagnosis of tropical infections: beyond the borders”.
• Anuradhapura Clinical Society Oration 2019: Delivered at the 13th Annual Scientific Sessions of the Anuradhapura Clinical Society on 23rd September 2019, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka: “Detection of Cell free DNA: Changing diagnostic paradigms for tropical infections”

Citations: 696, H Index: 17 (As of December 2019)

Google scholar, 2019: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Q7AXa3EAAAAJ&hl=en)

ORCID ID:  orcid.org/0000-0002-4814-6928

List of Selected Publications

1. Cai P, Weerakoon KG, Mu Y, Olveda RM, Ross AG, Olveda DU, McManus DP. Comparison of Kato Katz, antibody-based ELISA and droplet digital PCR diagnosis of schistosomiasis japonica: Lessons learnt from a setting of low infection intensity. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 2019, 4;13(3):e0007228.
2. Weerakoon KG, Gordon CA, Williams GM, Cai P, Gobert GN, Olveda RM, Ross AG, Olveda DU, McManus DP. Co-parasitism of intestinal protozoa and Schistosoma japonicum in a rural community in the Philippines. Infectious Diseases of Poverty 2018, 10;7(1):121.
3. Kularatne SAM, Fernando R, Selvaratnam S, Narampanawa C, Weerakoon K, Wickramasinghe S, Pathirage M, Weerasinghe V, Bandara A, Rajapakse J. Intra-aural tick bite causing unilateral facial nerve palsy in 29 cases over 16 years in Kandy, Sri Lanka: is rickettsial aetiology possible? BMC Infectious Diseases 2018, 18(1):418.
4. Weerakoon KG, Gordon CA, McManus DP. DNA diagnostics for schistosomiasis control. Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases 2018, 3(3): 81.
5. Weerakoon KG, Gordon CA, Williams GM, Cai P, Gobert GN, Olveda RM, Ross AG, Olveda DU, McManus DP. Droplet digital PCR diagnosis of human schistosomiasis: parasite cell-free DNA detection in diverse clinical samples. The Journal of Infectious Diseases 2017, 216(12):1611-1622.
6. Cai P, Weerakoon KG, Mu Y, Olveda DU, Piao X, Liu S, Olveda RM, Chen Q, RossAG, McManus DP. A parallel comparison of antigen candidates for development of an optimized serological diagnosis of schistosomiasis japonica in the Philippines. EBioMedicine 2017, 24:237-246.
7. Weerakoon KG, Kularatne SAM, Rajapakse J, Adikari S, Udayawarna K. Revisiting clinico-epidemiological pattern of human rickettsial infections in the central region of Sri Lanka: a hospital based descriptive study. BMC Research Notes 2017, 10(1): 400.
8. Weerakoon KG, Gordon CA, Cai P, Gobert GN, Duke M, Williams GM, McManus DP. Anovel duplex ddPCR assay for the diagnosis of schistosomiasis japonica: proof of concept in an experimental mouse model. Parasitology 2017, 144(8):1005-1015.
   Curriculum Vitae _Dr. Kosala Weerakoon 3
9. Herath N, Ratnatunga N, Weerakoon K, Wazil A, Nanayakkara N. Clinicopathological findings, treatment response and predictors of long-term outcome in a cohort of lupus nephritis patients managed according to the Euro-lupus regime: a retrospective analysis in Sri Lanka. BMC Research Notes 2017, 10(1):80.
10. Kularatne SA, Weerakoon K, Silva A, Maduwage K, Walathara C, Rathnayake I, Medagedara S, Paranagama R, Mendis S, Kumarasiri PV. Efficacy of intravenous hydrocortisone administered 2-4 h prior to antivenom as prophylaxis against adverse drug reactions to snake antivenom in Sri Lanka: An open labelled randomized controlled trial. Toxicon 2016, 120:159-165.
11. Agampodi S, Wijerathne B, Weerakoon K. Situation of Sri Lanka, where autochthonous malaria is no longer a problem, and other infections dominate, such as dengue, leptospirosis and rickettsioses. Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases 2016, 29(5):446-452.
12. Weerakoon KG, Gordon CA, Gobert GN, Cai P, McManus DP. Optimisation of a droplet digital PCR assay for the diagnosis of Schistosoma japonicum infection: A duplex approach with DNA binding dye chemistry. Journal of Microbiological Methods 2016, 125:19-27.
13. Weerakoon KG, McManus DP. Cell-Free DNA as a diagnostic tool for human parasitic infections. Trends in Parasitology 2016, 32(5):378-391.
14. Weerakoon KG, Gobert GN, Cai P, McManus DP. Advances in the diagnosis of human schistosomiasis. Clinical Microbiology Reviews 2015, 28(4):939-967.
15. Weerakoon K, Kularatne SAM, Rajapakse J, Adikari S, Waduge R. Cutaneous manifestations of spotted fever rickettsial Infections in the Central Province of Sri Lanka: A descriptive study. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 2014, 8(9):e3179.

July 2015-present: Senior Lecturer in Medical Parasitology | Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka.

Feb 2016-Dec 2018: Casual Academic (Case Based Learning (CBL) Tutor) | Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

July 2010-July 2015: Lecturer in Medical Parasitology | Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka.