Nilanthi de Silva

University of Kelaniya School of Medicine

Dr. Nilanthi de Silva is a Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Professor of parasitology at the University of Kelaniya in Sri Lanka. Professor de Silva graduated MBBS from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo in 1986, obtained a M.Sc. in Medical Parasitology from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in 1989, and MD in Medical Parasitology from the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo in 1994. She has served on the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Parasitic Diseases since 2001, and participated in many WHO meetings relating to soil-transmitted helminths and neglected tropical diseases. She is currently an Associate Editor of the open-access journal PLoS NTDs. She is also a member of the Mebendazole Advisory Committee, an independent body of experts that advises Johnson & Johnson’s Mebendazole Donation Initiative.Her major research contribution is in the epidemiology and control of the soil-transmitted helminth infections, roundworm, whipworm and hookworm.