Gladys Jayawardene (19??-September 12, 1989) was a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

Physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

. She was the first female Director of the Medical Research Institute and Chairman of the State Pharmaceutical Corporation. She was assassinated by the

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP; ) is a Marxist–Leninist communist party and a former militant organization in Sri Lanka. The movement was involved in two armed uprisings against the government of Sri Lanka: once in 1971 (SLFP), and anot ...

(JVP) for importing Indian medicines. Educated at C.M.S. Ladies' College, Colombo, she graduated from the

Colombo Medical College Ceylon Medical College was a public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociolo ...

and gained a PhD in

Parasitology Parasitology is the study of parasites, their hosts, and the relationship between them. As a biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in question but by their way of life. This means it fo ...

from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

as the first Sri Lankan female to do so.Encyclopedia of Sri Lanka
/ref> Joining the Ceylon Medical Service after graduation she transferred to the Medical Research Institute and went on to become its first female Director in the 1980s and in 1988 was appointed Chairman of the State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC). During her tenure the SPC began manufacturing Oral Rehydration Salts “Jeevanee” based on a formula approved by the

WHO Who or WHO may refer to: * Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun * Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism * World Health Organization Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book '' Horton He ...

and

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

which had been imported before.A pioneer in epidemiological work
/ref> With the onset of the 1987–89 JVP Insurrection, Dr Jayawardene was threatened by the JVP to stop imports of medicines from India due to their Anti-Indian policy. She refused to be intimidated and was assassinated by the JVP on September 12, 1989 suspected JVP gunmen at

Slave Island Slave Island ( si, කොම්පඤ්ඤ වීදිය, ta, கொம்பனித்தெரு) also known as Kampong Kertel and Kompanna Veediya is a suburb in Colombo, Sri Lanka, located directly south of the Fort. The suburb contain ...

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

. She married Dr Roland "Roly" Jayawardene, a medical doctor and brother of

J. R. Jayewardene Junius Richard Jayewardene ( si, ජුනියස් රිචඩ් ජයවර්ධන, ta, ஜூனியஸ் ரிச்சட் ஜயவர்தனா; 17 September 1906 – 1 November 1996), commonly abbreviated in Sri Lanka as ...

. She was the President of the Ladies’ College Old Girls’ Association from 1973 - 1974. The Gladys Jayawardene Gold Medal for Parasitology is awarded annually by the

Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo Established in 1870 as the Colombo Medical School, the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, is the second oldest medical school in South Asia.It is considered to be the top most medical faculty in the country which requir ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jayawardene, Gladys Year of birth missing 1989 deaths Sinhalese academics Sinhalese physicians Alumni of the University of Ceylon (Colombo) Alumni of the University of London Alumni of Ladies' College, Colombo Assassinated Sri Lankan people Deaths by car bomb in Sri Lanka Sri Lankan women academics Sri Lankan academic administrators Women physicians 20th-century women scientists

See also

References