Senior Professor P. A. Paranagama assumed duties as the Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, on the 3^rd of March 2025 at the faculty premises. The appointment letter was officially handed over to the Dean by Senior Professor Nilanthi De Silva, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya.

The event was graced by several distinguished guests, including Senior Professor Sudath R. D. Kalingamudali, Dean of the Faculty of Science; Professor M. M. Gunatilake, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences; Professor Dhammika Weerasinghe, Dean of the Faculty of Computing and Technology; Faculty Board members; Mr. K. K. K. Dharmathilaka, Registrar; Mrs. U. T. M. I. D. Tennakoon, Bursar; other academic and administrative staff; and distinguished guests who gathered to extend their best wishes to Senior Professor Paranagama.

Senior Professor Paranagama holds a BSc in Chemistry and an MPhil in Chemistry from the University of Kelaniya. She obtained her PhD in Chemistry from the University of Glasgow, United Kingdom.

A distinguished researcher, Senior Professor Paranagama specializes in developing value-added products from Indigenous Medicine, isolating and characterizing bioactive compounds from endolichenic fungi, value addition of essential oils and spices, and developing biopesticides for agricultural pest control in Sri Lanka. She has also contributed to research on the mode of action of biopesticides.

Her extensive academic leadership includes serving as the Dean of the College of Chemical Sciences at the Institute of Chemistry Ceylon (2016) and as the Director of Indigenous Medicine at the University of Colombo (2018-2023). Additionally, she has been appointed as the Chair of Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya, since 2012.