Sunday Times 2
Remembering Prof. K.N. Seneviratne, a man devoted to physiology
View(s):- Prof. Lakmali Amarasiri will deliver the 2025 Prof. K.N. Seneviratne Oration, titled ‘From the Gut to the Airways’.
By Prof Susirith Mendis
The K.N. Seneviratne 2025 Oration will be held at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, on Friday, November 21, 2025. It will be held in conjunction with the 38th Annual Sessions of the Physiological Society of Sri Lanka (PSSL).
Much has been written on the life and work of Prof. Keerthi Nissanka Seneviratne by his academic colleagues, generations of his admiring students and those who knew him as a sincere friend. He is no stranger to the medical academic community in Sri Lanka.
Professor Seneviratne was born in Elpitiya, Galle, on November 22, 1929, as the second son of Dr Robert and Mrs Laura Seneviratne. Prof. Seneviratne came from a privileged family. His father, Robert Seneviratne, was a doctor trained in Edinburgh, Scotland, where, subsequently, Prof. Seneviratne obtained his research doctorate.
He had his primary and secondary education at Royal College, Colombo. He obtained his MBBS degree with honours in 1954 from the University of Ceylon, Colombo, gaining a distinction in medicine and winning the gold medal for operative surgery.
After completing his clinical training as a young doctor, he joined the Department of Physiology of the Colombo Medical School on secondment as a demonstrator in 1957. Due to his interest in research, he went to Britain and obtained his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree from the University of Edinburgh. Having rejoined the Department of Physiology at the Faculty of Medicine, Colombo, he was promoted to the post of Professor of Physiology at the age of 39 in 1969 and was in the post until 1981.
I do not think it is necessary to reiterate the highlights of Prof. Seneviratne’s unique and distinguished career that was cut short by the massive heart attack he suffered in August 1986. His career highlights include, in particular, his exemplary research and teaching career at the Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Colombo; his pioneering but short stint as the founder director of the Institute of Postgraduate Medicine that has subsequently transformed into the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine; and his unfinished tasks at the South-East Asia Regional Office of the WHO in New Delhi. His groundbreaking efforts to bring postgraduate medicine into Sri Lanka amidst much opposition from the medical establishment had been grossly underestimated and gone almost unrecognised. I consider it a ‘revolution’ of sorts that transformed postgraduate medicine in Sri Lanka.
The Institute of Postgraduate Medicine (IPGM), which later became the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine (PGIM), was established by Prof. K.N. Seneviratne in 1974, and he was the founder director until he was appointed as a regional advisor to the World Health Organisation in 1981. The tragedy of our times is that we do not recognise great pioneers but do so of lesser men who tread the paths that have been cleared for them.
The photograph of Prof. K.N. Seneviratne does not hang on the walls of the PGIM as the founder of that institution (though by another name). My attempts to redress that injustice to Prof. Seneviratne while I was the chairman of the Board of Management of PGIM fell on deaf ears. Perhaps, my attempts were too feeble and ineffective.
He earned the immense respect of his peers, as he was undoubtedly the ‘primum inter pares’ among them. He earned the respect of lesser men, not by his position or authority, but, I believe, by the abundance of his innate humility, humour and humanism.
Prof. Seneviratne was different in many ways. He (and Prof. Leicester Jayawardene) came to work in white bush shirts and often in sandals. Mark Twain, US humorist, novelist, short story writer and wit, once said that “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.” Prof. Seneviratne and Prof. Leicester Jayawardene showed me early, contrary to Mark Twain’s dictum, that ‘clothes do not make the man’.
Of those who knew him intimately, Prof. Carlo Fonseka was, perhaps, one of the closest. Prof. Fonseka’s description of him in “The Island” on 21 November 1987, to my mind, fits best and exemplifies the multi-faceted nature of his personality. I quote, “This large-hearted giant of a man was spontaneously self-effacing, consciously non-competitive, disarmingly non-aggressive and pathologically publicity shy.” Giants of men are a rare breed in any country. It is, perhaps, more so in ours. A giant in stature, character and personality is that much rarer. Prof. Seneviratne was one such very rare gentle giant of a man.
In any of the commemorative tributes and articles written of him, I have not found an explanation as to why Prof. Seneviratne chose physiology for his specialisation and future professional career and not a clinical one. They all seem to assume that it was an obvious and natural choice with him.
I wish to believe Prof. Seneviratne’s strong research profile was fired by an urge to ‘search and find’ new information that had eluded medical researchers until then. Perhaps, He was also attracted to the discipline of physiology by the intrinsic scientific logic of its basic principles.
And therefore, what better way to commemorate him than an oration in his name by the Physiological Society of Sri Lanka?
This year’s orator will be Prof. Lakmali Amarasiri (MBBS, PhD), Professor and Head, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo.
The title of her oration is “From the Gut to the Airways”. The oration is about a journey of collaborative research and diagnostic services and training stemming from the relationship between the physiology and pathophysiology of the gut and the airways, leading to transformation of the landscape of lung function testing in Sri Lanka. Prof. Lakmali Amarasiri has been providing an honorary clinical service to the Central Chest Clinic, Colombo, overseeing lung function testing techniques and interpretation since 2012.
Prof. Amarasiri has had a brilliant academic record as an undergraduate at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya. She obtained First Class honours in the 2nd MBBS with distinctions in physiology and biochemistry, distinctions in microbiology in the 3rd MBBS and a distinction in medicine in the Final MBBS examinations.
She is the recipient of many gold medals, including the gold medals in Physiology, Biochemistry, and best performance gold medals in all examinations conducted by the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya.
Prof. Lakmali Amarasiri is also the recipient of many prestigious academic awards for her research publications, including the Vice-Chancellor’s awards for several years, Senate awards and the President’s Award for research in 2009, 2010 and 2013. She has many reviews and original research articles published in prestigious peer-reviewed indexed journals.
It is indeed a privilege to have an academic of the calibre of Prof. Amarasiri to deliver the K.N. Seneviratne Oration 2025.
(The writer is the former vice-chancellor and senior professor of physiology, Faculty of Medicine, and professor emeritus at the University of Ruhuna.)