Vidya Jyothi The Vidya Jyothi ( si, විද්‍යාජෝති; ta, வித்யா ஜோதி, translit=Vityā Jōti) is a Sri Lankan national honour awarded "''for outstanding scientific and technological achievements''". It is the highest natio ...

Mohamed Hussain Rezvi Sheriff, FRCP (Lon),

FRCPE The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that sets the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by Royal charter ...

(Edin), FRACP, FCCP, FSLCGP,

FNASSL The National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka (NASSL) is a high level, non-governmental scientific body, established in 1976, it was granted incorporated by an Act of Parliament in 1988. The National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka fulfills a ...

is 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 ...

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 ...

, nephrologist and

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 ...

. He served as the director of the

Postgraduate Institute of Medicine The Postgraduate Institute of Medicine (PGIM) of the University of Colombo is the graduate school that provides specialist training and board certification of medical doctors in Sri Lanka. The only type of its kind, it is similar to the prestigious ...

; senior professor of medicine; head of the Department of Clinical Medicine at 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 ...

. He is currently serving as the Senior Professor of Medicine at

General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) ( Sinhala: ජෙනරාල් ශ්‍රිමත් ජෝන් කොතලාවල ආරක්ෂක විශ්ව විද්‍යාලය ''General Sir John Kotelawala'' ''Ar ...

. He is also a consultant physician and nephrologist at National Hospital Sri Lanka. He is widely regarded as the Father of Nephrology or either hailed as Father of Modern Nephrology and Dialysis. He masterminded and pioneered

kidney transplantation Kidney transplant or renal transplant is the organ transplant of a kidney into a patient with end-stage kidney disease (ESRD). Kidney transplant is typically classified as deceased-donor (formerly known as cadaveric) or living-donor transplantati ...

in Sri Lanka. He is also the founder and owner of Western Hospital.

Education

Sheriff began his formal education at

Zahira College Colombo Zahira College (commonly known as Zahira) ( si, සහිරා විදුහල, ta, சாஹிரா கல்லுரி) is an Islamic school at Colombo in Maradana, Sri Lanka. It was founded in 1892 as Al Madrasathul Zahira by notab ...

and later received a scholarship and moved to

Royal College Colombo Royal College, Colombo is a selective entry boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started as a private school by Rev Joseph Marsh in 1835, it was established as the Colombo Academy by Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton in Janua ...

. He subsequently entered the

where he obtained both

Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United King ...

and later

Doctor of Medicine Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin language, Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a profes ...

. He is a Fellow of the

Royal College of Physicians, London The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that sets the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by Royal charter ...

and the Ceylon College of Physicians.

Career

After qualification, he was appointed as a lecturer in medicine in the Department of Medicine under Professor

Kumaradasa Rajasuriya Kumāradāsa is the author of a Sanskrit ''Mahākāvya'' called the ''Jānakī-haraṇa'' or Jānakī’s abduction. ''Jānakī'' is another name of Sita, wife of Rama. Sita was abducted by Ravana when she along with the Rama, exiled from his kin ...

in 1973. He obtained MRCP after completing his postgraduate training in the UK and he returned to Sri Lanka. He went onto have one of the longest academic careers in Sri Lankan university system. He and his collaborator

AH Sheriffdeen Deshamanya Professor A. H. Sheriffdeen is a Sri Lankan surgeon, academic and voluntary worker. Education Sheriffdeen was educated at St Andrew's College, Nawalapitiya, St. Anthony's College, Kandy and Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo ...

set up the first transplant programme in the country in October 1985. It also turned out to be the first ever

kidney transplant Kidney transplant or renal transplant is the organ transplant of a kidney into a patient with end-stage kidney disease (ESRD). Kidney transplant is typically classified as deceased-donor (formerly known as cadaveric) or living-donor transplantati ...

in Sri Lanka as it was successfully achieved with the assistance of Colombo University team which also included Geri Jayasekara. The successful kidney transplant was a moral booster for many Sri Lankans who previously had to travel all the way to India to undergo such treatment. He and

Surendra Ramachandran Deshamanya Surendra Ramachandran, FRCP was a Sri Lankan Physician and Nephrologist. He was the founder of Sri Lankas First Dialysis Unit. Education Educated at Royal College Colombo, he studied medicine Colombo Medical College now known as Facul ...

pioneered the speciality of Nephrology in Sri Lanka. Nearly 1,000 transplants have been done under his supervision. He was appointed as Professor of Medicine in 1990 and eight years later he was promoted as senior professor in Medicine in 1998. He is a member of the senior advisory board to SACTRC (South Asian Clinical Toxicology Research Collaboration) with

Nimal Senanayake Professor Nimal Senanayake is a Sri Lankan neurologist, physician, author, film and television scriptwriter and academic. Education Senanayake was educated at the University of Peradeniya. He trained at the Professorial medical unit at General ...

Ravindra Fernando Ravindra Fernando is a Sri Lankan forensic pathologist, toxicologist, physician, author and academic. He is the current chairman of the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board of Sri Lanka. Biography Education Fernando was educated at Ananda Co ...

and

Janaka de Silva Janaka de Silva Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, FRCP Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka , FNASSL is a Sri Lankan physician and academic. He is Professor Emeritus of Medicine at the University of Kelaniya. Janaka ...

. He founded the OxCol (University of Oxford Colombo link) for studies on snake bite and yellow oleander poisoning. He was president of the Sri Lanka Medical Association, Ceylon College of Physicians, Sri Lanka Association for Nephrology and Transplantation, SAARC Society of Nephrology, Urology and Transplant Surgery and the Founder President of the Hypertension Society in Sri Lanka in addition to being a founder of the Health Informatics Society in Sri Lanka and a councillor of the International Society of Nephrology. He is an External Examiner for MRCP in UK & Chennai. He is the Ceylon College of Physician Coordinator for MRCP Examinations in Sri Lanka. He was appointed as the President of

Sri Lanka Medical Association The Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) is the professional association for doctors and surgical professionals in Sri Lanka. It is considered to be the oldest national professional organisation of medical professionals in Austral ...

in 2009. He has published widely in Nephrology, Transplantation, Snake Bite and Oleander Poisoning. He is also the founder chairman of Western Infirmary Hospital in Colombo, a center known for renal disease care, dialysis and transplantation. In 2011, he was rated as the top scientist from Sri Lanka according to the Web of Science database. He retired from

University of Colombo (Buddhih Sarvatra Bhrajate) , mottoeng = ''Wisdom Enlightens'' , established = , endowment = Sri Lankan rupee, LKR 1.461 1,000,000,000 (number), billion

on September 30, 2014, after rendering 41 years of service. During his illustrious career, his research interests included snake bites, Toxicology, Nephrology, non communicable diseases, medical education and chronic kidney disease of unknown aetiology. Following his kidney transplant, he is set to undertake a major kidney transplant programme at the Kotelewala Defence University.

Honours and awards

He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Honorary Fellow of the College of General Practitioners of Sri Lanka and a Fellow of the National Academy of Science of Sri Lanka. The titular prestigious honour

was conferred upon him by the

Government of Sri Lanka The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය, Śrī Lankā Rajaya; ta, இலங்கை அரசாங்கம்) is a parliamentary system determined by the Sri Lankan Constitution. It administers the is ...

in 1993 in recognition of his contribution to Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation in Sri Lanka. He also received a Lion International Merit Award.

Controversy

In 2019, Rezvi filed complaints with the

Criminal Investigation Department The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is the branch of a police force to which most plainclothes detectives belong in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth nations. A force's CID is distinct from its Special Branch (though officers of b ...

over some baseless allegations which surfaced in social media which revealed that he treated Zahran Hashim who was the prime suspect behind the

2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings On 21 April 2019, Easter Sunday, three churches in Sri Lanka and three luxury hotels in the commercial capital, Colombo, were targeted in a series of coordinated ISIS-related terrorist suicide bombings. Later that day, there were smaller expl ...

Personal life

In October 2022, he himself underwent a successful kidney transplant at Western Infirmary/Western Hospital. He is diagnosed with diabetes, hypertension and was deemed to be a very high risk patient prior to the kidney transplantation.

References

External links

* Sri Lankan nephrologists Sri Lankan academic administrators Alumni of Zahira College, Colombo Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Alumni of the University of Colombo Living people Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Health informaticians Vidya Jyothi Academic staff of the University of Colombo Year of birth missing (living people) Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh {{Authority control