Professor Deepika Fernando is head and senior professor in the Department of Parasitology at the University of Colombo in Sri Lanka and is a consultant clinical parasitologist. She plays an important role in developing research capacity in the country by serving as the principal supervisor of several postgraduate research students working on malaria. She has been closely engaged in the elimination of malaria in Sri Lanka, providing technical advice and assistance to the country’s Anti Malaria Campaign since 2008, including contributing to preparations for World Health Organization (WHO) certification of the country for malaria elimination in 2016. She is a key member of the Technical Support Group that was established for the elimination of malaria by the Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka, which now serves as an advisory body on the prevention of re- introduction of malaria. She is a member of the Case Review Committee of the Anti-Malaria Campaign and also serves on several other advisory committees of the Anti-Malaria Campaign.

Professor Fernando earned a Doctor of Philosophy for work focused on the impact of malaria on the cognitive performance and physical development of school children as a WHO/TDR (Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases) grantee. She earned a diploma in Medical Microbiology and a medical degree in Medical Parasitology from the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine of the University of Colombo in Sri Lanka. She also worked at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in Oxford, United Kingdom while completing postdoctoral studies.