Lecturer in Community Dentistry
MD and MSc in Community Dentistry, University of Colombo
BDS (Hons) Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health, (UK)
Dilini Ratnayake is a devoted lecturer and specialist trainee specializing in Community Dentistry at the Faculty of Dental Sciences, University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka. Currently, she is preparing to pursue her overseas training at the Faculty of Life Sciences and Education, University of South Wales, United Kingdom, as a visiting research fellow with the goal of obtaining board certification as a Consultant in Community Dentistry in Sri Lanka.
Her academic journey commenced in 2011, immediately after graduating from the Faculty of Dental Sciences, University of Peradeniya. She joined the Faculty as an undergraduate clinical teacher in oral medicine and radiology, where she stayed for a year. In 2012, she transitioned to the Ministry of Health in Sri Lanka. Prior to rejoining the university, she held various clinical, non-clinical, and administrative positions at the Ministry of Health Sri Lanka, gaining valuable insight and experience in rural healthcare delivery at the grassroots level.
She earned her MSc in Community Dentistry in 2015 and MD in Community Dentistry in 2022 from the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Additionally, she is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health of the United Kingdom.
During her training in Community Dentistry, she received extensive instruction in Applied Epidemiology, Advanced biostatistics, Research Methodology and Field Public Health Management. Currently, she is undergoing training at the Family Health Bureau of the Ministry of Health as a Senior Registrar in Community Dentistry actively contributing to new developments in the school oral health care programme. Her research interests lie in exploring novel approaches for health promotion based on ‘Salutogenesis model of health’ and ‘Sense of Coherence,’ subjects she explored in her doctoral thesis. She also has a keen focus on exploring sustainable models of community dental services reaching socially deprived populations which is carried out with collaboration of the community dental services of the Swansea University health board, Wales. Additionally, she is interested in exploring teaching-learning pedagogies to improve teaching in public health.
Despite her demanding academic pursuits, she nurtures a fervent passion for fabric painting and collecting traditional Sri Lankan jewellery.