RETIREMENT OF PROFESSOR MOHAN DE SILVA
Professor Mohan de Silva, Senior Professor of Surgery and Former Dean, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura retired from university services on 8th August 2018.
He was felicitated by the Faculty of Medical Sciences on 14th August 2018 by holding a Felicitation Ceremony at the Faculty Board Room. Prof. Mohan de Silva joined the Faculty of Medical Sciences as Senior Lecturer in Surgery in 1996 as one of the very initial clinical teachers. He played a key role in setting up the Professorial Surgery Unit at Colombo South Teaching Hospital and getting all the instruments to the unit and developing it as one of the best endoscopic units in Sri Lanka. He is a very skilled surgeon and he has trained many surgeons under his guidance.
He is a very dedicated teacher who can impart subject knowledge to his students in a very simple way. He is an author who has written several books and making the subject surgery very easy to understand. Not only surgery he had taught Anatomy in the dissecting room on so many occasions. He is a researcher who has published in reputed journals.
He is a sportsman a cricketer and he had played many cricket matches with the students, inter faculty, inter university and with the Colombo south Hospital staff.
He is a talented singer who had performed in many 'Talents' shows and other musical events at the university.
He was one of the 6 members who drafted the proposal for IRQUE World Bank project where Faculty of Medical Sciences received US Dollars 100,000 and the faculty developed very much through this funding.
He was elected as Dean in January 2011 and continued until December 2014.
The medical curriculum was revised into a hybrid curriculum with Integrated system based delivery and Subject based assessments during his deanship.
In 2012, under the leadership of Prof. Mohan De Silva, the Faculty acquired a long awaited 3.6 acres of land which had been on paper since 1993 from Methsevana detention centre to commence the Phase IV Development Project.
One half of a long one storied building constructed by British when Sri Lanka was under their ruling located in the newly acquired land was converted into the University Day Care Centre for children of staff members of USJ and the other half was converted into student reading areas. The student reading area, refurbished is referred to as “Serine” by students due to the calm atmosphere that is created there and is a very popular student study and recreational area.
Professor de Silva was able to obtain the cabinet approval for 1.6 billion to construct Phase IV building complex of the FMS as the first design and built construction project of the university system. A unique design of a futuristic Medical Faculty was approved and construction started in 2014.
Professor de Silva assumed duties as Chairman, UGC in March 2015.
All at the Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura wish Professor Mohan De Silva all the best in the years to come.
