Lakshman Samaranayake

Lakshman 'Sam' Samaranayake is a Sri Lankan clinical academic with expertise in clinical microbiology and research, senior executive level administration, clinical education and pedagogy. He is best known for his work with oral fungal diseases. After serving as a Consultant Clinical Microbiologist in Glasgow, UK he joined the academia. Since then, working in five different trans-continental universities, he has authored over 500 scientific communications, cited over 37,000 occasions (h-index 106). Subsequently, he served over 12 years as the Executive Dean of two major dental schools in Hong Kong (a top five ranking dental school globally), and Australia at the University of Hong Kong and University of Queensland, respectively. He has received multiple accolades for his contributions to clinical sciences and education, including the King James IV Professorship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, UK, and the Distinguished Scientist Award of IADR, USA. He has held multiple visiting and honorary professor appointments in the universities of Thailand, Australia, Indonesia, India, the UK, the Middle East, and China. In addition, Professor Samaranayake is the #11 ranked clinical microbiologist in China out of 42,000+ scientists

Education

Samaranayake was born in Sri Lanka and attended the Royal College, Sri Lanka for his secondary education. He then earned his Bachelor of Dental Sciences (BDS) degree from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, and received his Doctoral Degree (DDS), at the University of Glasgow, UK through research into oral candidal infections, where he served as a Consultant/ Senior Lecturer in Oral Medicine and Pathology; simultaneously he was an honorary consultant in microbiology to the Greater Glasgow Health Board, Scotland (1985–1990). He obtained his training in medical and oral microbiology, at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, for the Fellowship of the Royal College of Pathologists, UK under Professor Morag Timbury. Subsequently, he became a member, and then a fellow of the college, by examination in clinical microbiology. He was the first dentist from South East Asia to do so, and the fourth, internationally to gain such recognition. Then he served as an associate professor at the University of Alberta, Canada (1990–1991), and Reader /Professor University of Hong Kong(1991–2013), University of Queensland, Australia (2014–2016), Kuwait University (2017–2018) and as a visiting professor at Sharjah University, UAE through invitation (2018–2020). Currently, he is a professor emeritus at the University of Hong Kong and an honorary professor at the Universities of Thailand, Indonesia, Oman, China, and Sri Lanka. Lakshman Samaranayake is a proud alumnus of the University of Peradeniya, his alma mater.

Academic and research career With an h index of 106 derived from over 500 scientific communications, and cited in the literature on more than 37,000 occasions he is amongst the top 2% of global scientist, and considered as the foremost, global authority on oral fungal diseases and related human mycoses. Additionally, he is amongst the top ten most cited scholars in the discipline of Dentistry. Professor Samaranayake is considered the top #11 ranked clinical microbiologist in China out of 42,000+ scientists

Publications Notable books

Awards and achievements

He is the first Asian to be awarded the King James IV Professorship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh for exceptionally outstanding research in dental surgical sciences (conferred in 2013) . He has received numerous awards and honors as follows: