Senior Prof. Nilanthi Renuka de Silva, MBBS (Colombo), MSc (London), MD (Colombo), assumed duties as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya for the second term, with effect from the 24^th of August 2023.

She is a Senior Professor and the Chair of Parasitology at the Faculty of Medicine, a post she has held since 2003. She was the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine from 2012 to 2018. Prof. de Silva has also pursued a long-standing interest in the education of health professionals and quality assurance in Higher Education. She was the Director of the Quality Assurance Council of the University Grants Commission from 2018 to 2020, and the Vice-President of the Sri Lanka Medical Council from 2016 to 2020. She is an expert advisor on Neglected Tropical Diseases to the World Health Organization, serving both WHO Headquarters and the Southeast Asia Regional Office in different capacities since 2000, and has served in an advisory capacity to other international non-governmental organizations in the UK, USA, and Switzerland.  She has served in a similar advisory capacity to other international entities: Children Without Worms at the Task Force for Global Health in Atlanta, USA; the Partnership for Child Development at Imperial College London; the International Task Force for Disease Eradication at the Carter Centre in Atlanta, USA; and the DeWorm3 project of the British Natural History Museum.

 She has worked with all the state universities in Sri Lanka and non-state higher education institutions to improve the quality of degree programs offered in both the state and non-state sectors. In 2022, Prof. de Silva chaired the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Directors, an advisory body to the UGC. Most recently, she chaired a Technical Advisory Committee appointed by the Secretary to the Ministry of Education in 2022 to review the proposed Bill on an independent Quality Assurance and Accreditation Commission for Higher Education in Sri Lanka. 

As a renowned scientist, the focus of her research has been on soil-transmitted helminth infections, particularly their epidemiology, treatment, and control. She has over 100 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals, with an h-index of 34. She is a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka, has won several Presidential Research Awards, and has been listed in the World’s Top 2% of Scientists Database compiled by Stanford University and Elsevier for 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Prof. Nilanthi de Silva’s vision is to transform the University of Kelaniya into a highly competitive research university that excels in teaching, learning, research, and innovation while promoting a culture of inclusiveness, diversity, and social responsibility. She is also committed to enhancing the collaboration and engagement of the university with its stakeholders and partners, both locally and globally.