Project team

Professor Krishnarajah Nirantharakumar

Project Lead - University of Birmingham

Krish Nirantharakumar leads two multimorbidity consortiums one focussing on multiple long term conditions in pregnancy (MuMPreDiCT: PI) and another focussing on using artificial intelligence to improve care for people living with complex multimorbidity (OPTIMAL: Joint-PI). Krish is also Co-I in other multimorbidity grants (MurMur and Birm-Cam). He has worked with proposed Sri Lankan partners over the last 10 years, including recently concluded NIHR Global Health grant on AF and WELLCOME funded Critical Care Asia and Africa project.

Krish will be responsible for overseeing the delivery, management and coordination of the project; ensuring research milestones are met; co-chairing the project meetings; ensuring contractual/financial arrangements; establishing the scientific advisory group; co- leading the design and implementation of the intervention components; ensuring rigour in the design of the digital tools and high- quality data collection; providing support to the Sri Lankan partners, including research and management staff as required; and ensuring policy for community engagement and dissemination of results.

Dr Kumaran Subaschandran

Joint Lead - University of Jaffna

Kumaran Subaschandran is a primary care physician and senior lecturer in family medicine at University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Kumaran received overseas training at University of Birmingham under the supervision of Krish (PI). Both have worked together in the Global AF grant and delivered a 10K cohort and a prototype digital tool for AF management. Kumaran will be responsible for the overall delivery of all operations of the project in Sri Lanka. These include: organisation and management of community engagement and involvement; co-supervising junior researchers; completion of ethics, and any regulatory requirements from the Sri Lanka government and NIHR; oversee all local operations including troubleshooting in any local issues; being responsible for the quality and timely data collection; regularly liaise with the ministry of Health in Sri Lanka on the proposed project; oversee the design and implementation of the intervention components; facilitate communication with policy makers in Sri Lanka.

Professor G. Neil Thomas

Neil Thomas serves as the Director of both the NIHR Research Support Service National Collaborative and the Birmingham Hub and partners Keele and Warwick. He is a Professor of Epidemiology and Research Methods in the college of Medicine and Health at the University of Birmingham. Previously, he co-led the NIHR Global Group in Atrial Fibrillation management, including work in Sri Lanka. He will provide his expertise in designing, conducting and evaluating research, in particular clinical trials in low-and-middle-incomes countries.

Professor Justine Davies

Justine Davies does research that informs development of health systems that to deliver quality care in lower- or middle- income countries. She currently holds a NIHR-RIGHT funded grant in Rwanda implementing integrated electronic pathway for ambulance services (Rwanda912) and an NIHR Global Health Group on equitable access to quality care after injury in 4 low or middle income countries. She will be our implementation science lead. She will provide expertise and guidance on the implementation and evaluation of the digitally integrated care pathways and decision support system and capacity building in implementation science with Sri Lankan partners.

Dr Francesca Crowe

Francesca Crowe is a Lecturer in Epidemiology and Health Informatics at the University of Birmingham. She has expertise in designing and conducting clinical trials as well as implementation trials in high-, low- and middle-income settings. Dr FC will be the co-lead of WP4 where her expertise will be pertinent in delivering the feasibility study and the implementation trial.

Dr Shamil Haroon

Shamil Haroon is a clinical associate professor, public health consultant and primary care physician, at the University of Birmingham. He will provide his expertise in primary care and in building standardised electronic templates for long-term conditions for integrated carepathways and computer executable guidelines.

Dr Karla Hemming

Karla Hemming leads a research programme related to cluster randomised trials, this includes both theoretical and applied research. Karla is affiliated with the Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit and provides methodological support for the design of cluster trials. Karla is known internationally as an expert in cluster randomised trials. She will be the statistical design and analysis lead; supervising the statistical analysis and data collection quality, capacity building in statistics with partners in Sri Lanka.

Professor Sue Jowett

Sue Jowett is a Professor in Health Economics and has an extensive portfolio of applied research concerning trial and model- based economic evaluations in chronic diseases. Sue has published a large number of economic evaluations in chronic disease management. She also led the health economics workstream for the NIHR Global Group in Atrial Fibrillation which undertook cost-effectiveness analysis of AF case finding in Sri Lanka. . She will be the lead for the health economic analysis and will supervise data collection for economic evaluation and ensure capacity building in health economics in Sri Lanka.

Dr Matthew South

Matthew South has expertise in developing and designing complex electronic clinical support tools used in clinical settings. He's an alumnus of Cancer Research UK's Advanced Computation Laboratory and is a co-founder of Deontics Ltd, and a director of Openclinical CIC, the community interest company that supports www.openclinical.net. He is the innovator of the OPS (open proforma system for modelling clinical guidelines). He will be the lead for developing electronic integrated care pathways and clinical guidelines.

Professor Steven Marwaha

Steven Marwaha is an academic Psychiatrist whose main interest is in early intervention and mood disorders, such as bipolar disorder and depression. His work focusses on pathways to illness and care, and ways of improving the clinical outcomes of this group using both pharmacological and psychological interventions. He will provide expertise in mental health and in integration of care provided between specialist care centres and primary care.

Dr Olalekan Lee Aiyegbusi

Lee Aiyegbusi is an Associate Professor and Deputy Director at the Centre for Patient-Reported Outcome Research (CPROR), University of Birmingham, UK. He will provide expertise in embedding patient reported outcomes within electronic health records and how they could be utilised for improved patient care.

Professor Sheila Greenfield

Sheila Greenfield is a Professor of Medical Sociology and a qualitative methodologist and will provide her expertise in designing, conducting and interpreting results from the mixed-methods studies for the pathway mapping and process evaluation.

Professor Georgios Gkoutos

Georgios Gkoutos is the Chair of Clinical Bioinformatics, University of Birmingham, he is a Collaborator for this project and offer specialist technical advice

Dr Tiffany Gooden

Tiffany Gooden is a post-doctoral research fellow in global health at the University of Birmingham with experience in mixed-methods health systems research in low- and middle-income countries. She will co-lead the pathway mapping rapid evaluation for WP2 and co-lead the process evaluation for WP5.

Dr Jennifer Cooper

Jennifer Cooper is a primary care physician and early career researcher at the University of Birmingham with a focus on health informatics and understanding optimal care for patients with multiple long-term conditions. JC will provide expertise in primary care and in building standardised electronic templates for long-term conditions for integrated care pathways and computer executable guidelines.

Dr Krishna Margadhamane Gokhale

Krishna Gokhale is a post-doctoral researcher in health informatics at the University of Birmingham. He is the architect and the developer of DExtER (Data Extractor for Epidemiological Research) which will be one of the key elements of the DICP. KG will be contribute to work package 3 in the development of the DICP and WP4 where DExtER will be integrated into the primary care systems.

Dr Fazla Fayaz

Fazla Fayaz is a distinguished researcher and global health advocate, holding a Doctor of Medicine in Community Medicine from the Post-Graduate Institute of Medicine University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Her specialization lies in public health, with a keen focus on maternal and child health, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Over the last decade, her work has encompassed national health policy development, maternal care, and digital health innovations aimed at improving healthcare delivery in resource-limited settings.

Antony Sheron Vedanayagam

Sheron holds a BScN (Hons) and an MSc in Applied Epidemiology and is currently pursuing a PhD in Health System Development at the University of Birmingham. His research focuses on health system development, implementation science, rapid evaluation, and qualitative evaluation. He is particularly passionate about stakeholder engagement and community engagement and involvement (CEI), striving to enhance public health systems and policies through collaborative and evidence-driven approaches.

Powsiga Urithrakumar

Powsiga is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Digital Epidemiology, University of Jaffna. She focuses on epidemiological research and is particularly interested in multiple long-term conditions. She has experience in conducting community surveys, rapid evaluations, and systematic reviews and is pursuing a PhD in Applied Health Research at the University of Birmingham.

Professor Rashan Haniffa

Rashan Haniffa is the chair in critical care medicine and health systems research at University of Edinburgh and co-leads the CCAA network. He is the director for NICS-MORU the trial co-ordination centre in Sri Lanka, and will co-lead the clinical trial work package (WP4). In addition to his research expertise and responsibilities as professor, he is a clinical consultant in Sri Lanka and has worked extensively in the country to develop digital healthcare systems.

Dr Abi Beane

Abi Beane is a reader in health systems development at University of Edinburgh and is the Co-PI for the Critical Care Asia and Africa network. She is an expert in designing and evaluating near real time digital healthcare registries and interventional research in LMICs, and has years of experience of working in Sri Lanka. She will be the co-lead for the process evaluation (WP5) and contribute to the pathway mapping (WP2) and clinical trials (WP4).

Professor Kamlesh Khunti

Kamlesh Khunti is the national NIHR ARC lead for MLTC, Director for the NIHR Global Research Centre for MLTC Research, Co- Lead for Cross NIHR Collaboration for MLTC and National Lead for MLTC Training for NIHR. He will bring his expertise in chronic disease management including building such digital systems for managing long-term conditions in LMICs (PI for NIHR global project in Africa), provide capacity building in Sri Lanka and provide clinical expertise in cardio-metabolic-diseases.

Professor R. Surenthirakumaran

Rajendra Surenthirakumaran is the Dean of Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna and has worked with the PI (KN) for over 10 years, including on the global AF project. He will oversee the allocation of human resources to conduct the project, including PhD students and junior research fellows. He will also help in facilitating discussions with policy makers in Sri Lanka and contribute to the design, implementation and evaluation of the intervention components.

Professor Sambasivamoorthy Sivayokan

Sambasivamoorthy Sivayokan is a professor of psychiatry at University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka. He will provide expertise in clinical psychiatry, developing integrated care-pathways that are locally relevant for people living with mental health conditions and in digitalising clinical guidelines for mental health conditions.

Dr P.A Dinesh Coonghe 

As the current Head of the Department of Community and Family Medicine, P.A Dinesh Coonghe will support in administrative aspects of the project. His research experience in mental health will be instrumental in WP1 and WP2 for developing DICPs in psychiatric issues such as depression. He will oversee the mental health aspects of primary care in collaboration with the others in the team.

Dr Vathulan Sujanitha

Vathulan Sujanitha is the Head of the Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna. She is an internal medicine specialist with a special interest in geriatric medicine. She will be instrumental in WP2 with her knowledge and experience in managing multiple long term conditions in the Sri Lankan setting.

Dr T. S. Navaratnaraja

Thiyahini is a Senior lecturer in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics from the University of Jaffna. She will use her expertise to guide the team in developing medication management guidelines for the DICPs. Considering the complexity of the pharmacological management of multiple long-term conditions, her knowledge and skills will be useful in therapeutic selection. Furthermore, she will oversee the medication advice and instructions in the proposed patient portal.

Dr Supun Withana

Supun Withana is a training Family Physician and Senior Lecturer in Family Medicine at the University of Kelaniya. He has completed his MPhil in Family Medicine with field research work. He will play a role in the project in WP1, WP2, and WP3, and plays a vital role in overall project. He is well-connected with the University of Jaffna and currently on an honorary contract with the University of Birmingham, where he is involved in training activities.

Dr A P J Maithri S Rupasinghe

Maithri Rupasinghe is a Consultant Family Physician and an academic in Kelaniya. He has qualitative and quantitative research experience. He is a well-experienced general practitioner and will be a stakeholder in primary care development. He will support SW in managing groundwork from Kelaniya. He has worked in many places in Sri Lanka and will collaborate with the team to successfully implement the project.

Professor Madawa Chandratilake

Madawa Chandratilake, Dean of Faculty of Medicine, is a collaborator and Professor in Medical Education and leads the capacity-building activities with University of Jaffna and partners.

Professor Anuradini Kasthriratne

Anuradini Kasthriratne is a Professor in Community Medicine and who has a special interest in Epidemiology, NCD and Health Economics and work as a collaborator.

Dr SNJK Mendis

Professor Kumara Mendis is Consultant Family Physician and health informatician. He pioneered the first open source electronic record system for primary care in Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Open EMR (SLOpenEMR), a cloud based open-source primary care EHR. He will provide guidance on the barriers and facilitators in implementing such systems and oversee the implementation of the digitally integrated carepathways in PMCUs along with Dr Kumaran and Dr Supun Withana.

Professor Vajira H. W. Dissanayake

Prof Vajira H.W. Dissanayake is the Senior Professor (Chair), Department of Anatomy, Genetics and Biomedical Informatics and the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo. He founded the MSc in Biomedical Informatics and MD in Health Informatics leading to producing board certified consultants in Health Informatics that has produced over 300 MSc and 75 MD graduates who are spearheading the development of Health Informatics in the health sector in Sri Lanka. He was the President of the Sri Lanka Medical Association in 2021, President of the Health Informatics Society of Sri Lanka from 2009 to 2019, President of the Commonwealth Medical Association from 2016 to 2019, President of the Asia Pacific Association for Medical Informatics from 2018 to 2020, Vice President of the International Medical Informatics Association from 2018 to 2020 and the Chairperson of the Commonwealth Center fro Digital health since 2018. He is a fellow of the International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics and the National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka. He is the Director of the Center for Health Systems Policy and Innovation established in the University of Colombo in 2023 as a WHO and ADB initiative. With his immense expertise in health informatics, research and training, Prof, Dissanayake will play a role in WP1 and WP3. His collaborations with national and international organisations will be instrumental in supporting the project. 

Professor Chandrika N Wijeyaratne

Professor Chandrika Wijeyaratne has worked as a Consultant Physician and has led many projects for preventing and managing chronic diseases. She has also handled many national and international grants and acted as the coordinator for many WHO projects. She has supervised many PhDs and she will get involved in WP 1 and 2 with her expertise in chronic disease management and play an advisory role in WP4 and WP6 with her teaching experience.

Roshan Hewapathirana

Roshan Hewapathirana is a Senior Lecturer in Health Informatics, in the Department of Anatomy, Genetics and Biomedical Informatics of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo. He is also a visiting lecturer and a member of the Specialty Board in Biomedical Informatics at the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo.

Dr N Shobana

Dr N Shobana is a trainee Family Physician and Lecturer in the Department of Primary Health Care, Faculty of Health-Care Sciences, Eastern University, Sri Lanka. She will play a vital role in Work Package 1 (WP1), contributing to the formation of the Community Engagement and Involvement (CEI) Forum

*Collaborator

Dr Asela Gunawardena

Asela Gunawardena will play a key role in WP1, WP2 and WP4 as the Director General of Health Services. He will guide the team to obtain the necessary permissions from the authorities. He is keen on developing primary care in Sri Lanka with the proposed 5-year health development plan. He has taken steps to train primary care doctors and supported the implementation of Open MRS in primary care settings.

Dr Palitha Karunapema

Palitha Karunapema is currently the director of health informatics in the Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka. He is key in implementing the OpenMRS in the Sri Lankan Primary Care setting. He is familiar with many international electronic record systems and WHO smart guidelines which is helpful in the current project. He will guide the team to ensure that DICP is in line with the digital health blueprint of Sri Lanka. 

Dr Malkanthi Galhena

Malkanthi is a Consultant Family Physician by profession. She plays a leadership role in primary care provision in Sri Lanka. She has taken steps to train primary care doctors in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. Her network of Family Physicians will be instrumental in implementing the proposed work in the ground level. She will participate in WP1 and WP6 as a stakeholder and a trainer in primary care provision.

Dr Buddika Dayaratne

Buddika is a Consultant in Clinical Informatics and project director for the OpenMRS in Sri Lanka. He is one of the pioneering members to implement electronic indoor morbidity and mortality reporting system in Sri Lanka. His expertise in developing the OpenMRS is valuable and will play a key role in integrating the OpenClinical and DExtER with the OpenMRS. He has worked with many national and international teams to develop the OpenMRS for Sri Lanka.

Dr Naveen De Soyza*

Naveen is a dedicated Consultant Community Physician (Acting) and the Acting Deputy Regional Director of Health Services (DRDHS) in Kalutara. He serves as a member of the Ethics Review Committee (ERC) at the National Institute of Health Sciences (NIHS) and is an accomplished researcher in public health with a special focus on health systems and primary health care

_{*Collaborator}

Mr Jude Walton Jesuthasan

Mr Jesudasan is an experienced CEI lead and for the first time a co-applicant in a grant application. Mr Jesudasan will help with setting up the Stakeholder Consultation Group in the first instance and ensure representation from CEI forum members. He will mentor new CEI members and ensure regular communication between the SCG decisions / recommendations and CEI forums. He will also assist with SCG tasks assigned for CEI, including dissemination activities.

• Kings College London
• NICS MORU Sri Lanka
• ArogyaLife Sri Lanka

Chair, ESTSC

Jeremy Wyatt, Emeritus Professor of Digital Healthcare, University of Southampton

Independent Statistician Clinical Trial Methodologist

Ivonne Solis-Trapala, Keele University 

Independent Primary Health Care expert (clinical) global

Paramjit Gill, Professor of General Practice at University of Warwick 

Independent Primary Health Care expert (clinical) Sri Lanka 

R.Gobith, GP & Chair, NCD Committee, College of General Practitioners of Sri Lanka 

Independent CEI member Sri Lanka

Sulari Gamage, Attorney at Law& Notary Public