Table of Contents
Profile
Prof. Thilini Agampodi obtained her basic medical degree (MBBS) from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. She possesses double masters; in community medicine (University of Colombo) and in public health (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK). Her doctoral degree was on bridging social epidemiology and maternal mental health and included the first systematic review on social capital tools in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), the largest in-depth qualitative exploration of social capital in pregnancy and the development of the first tool to capture social capital in pregnancy in LMICs. She has worked as a community physician, as an anesthetist and a master trainer of several maternal and child health programmes. She is a grant holder of many public health initiatives that covers, maternal health, social capital, tropical diseases and mental health. During the fifteen years of experience as a community physician and a lecturer and the head of the department of community medicine in the medical school, she has engaged in numerous teaching activities, community health promotion and research and have engaged in facilitating and supervising global health students of well-known Universities under collaborative work. She was the chief Student Counselor (2012-15) in the Faculty of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka. She has worked on mental health research since 2005 where she assessed mental health problems of tsunami affected adolescents and then moved on further in adolescent mental health, mental health during pregnancy and mental health of medical undergraduates. She pioneered the development of mindfulness based interventions to improve maternal mental health in Sri Lanka and the programme is currently in the phase of an RCT. In addition, she is the PI of the Rajarata Pregnancy Cohort (RaPCo), the largest pregnancy cohort in Sri Lanka and one of the largest maternal cohort on social epidemiology and maternal mental health in LMICs.
Qualifications
Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Surgery University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 2001
Master of Science (Community Medicine) University of Colombo, Sri Lanka 2006
Doctor of Medicine (Community Medicine) University of Colombo, Sri Lanka 2011
Post Graduate Diploma in Public Health, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK 2012
Master’s in Public Health, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK 2013
Doctor of Philosophy, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, 2018
Positions held
Current
Professor in Social Epidemiology (2019)
Previous
Senior Lecturer in Community Medicine – Faculty of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka (2013- to date)
Visiting Research Scientist – Laboratory of Epidem.Public Health, Department of Social and Behavioral Science, School of Public Health, Yale University (2019 – 2020)
Head – Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka (2015 – 2018)
Lecturer – Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Rajarata (2009 – 2013)
Deputy Proctor – Chief Student Counsellor, Faculty of Medicine and Allied Sciences (2013)
Medical Officer – Anaesthesia, Teaching Hospital, Kandy (2007 – 2009)
Additional Medical Officer of Health, Beruwala (2006 – 2007)
Medical Officer – Out Patient Department, Teaching Hospital Anuradhapura (2003 – 2005)
Intern medical officer – Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital (2002 – 2003)
Awards and Honors
Presidents’ Awards for Scientific Publications 2015
Presidents’ Awards for Scientific Publications 2014
Presidents’ Awards for Scientific Publications 2013
Presidents’ Awards for Scientific Publications 2012
Presidents’ Awards for Scientific Publications 2011
Best paper- Sir Nicholas Attygalle Award, Prevalence of Cardiovascular Conditions among First Trimester Pregnant Females in Anuradhapura District, 133rd Annual Scientific Session of Sri Lanka Medical Association 2020.
Best paper, A Systematic Approach in Mental Health Assessment in Early Pregnancy; An Experience from Rajarata Pregnancy Cohort, 25th Annual Academic Sessions of the College of Community Physicians of Sri Lanka 2020.
Outstanding oral presentation, Development and validation of a tool to measure social capital in pregnancy, 49th Asia Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health 2017, South Korea.
Best research presentation, Heavy Workload of Third Year Clinical Rotation Affects Effective Learning Of Para-Clinical Subjects. 13th Asia Pacific Medical Education Conference 2016, Singapore.
Best poster presentation, moving beyond routine antenatal exercises: Incorporating mindful movement into antenatal care in Sri Lanka. Anuradhapura Clinical Society Annual Sessions 2015.
Best poster presentation – First prize, can dermatoglyphics be useful in screening for hypertension: a systematic review. Annual academic sessions of Sri Lanka Heart Association, 2015
Best research presentation- First prize, Infant feeding behaviours in Nuwaragam-Palatha-Central (NPC) Medical Officer of Health (MOH) area; a qualitative study, 3rd Annual academic sessions of Anuradhapura clinical society.
Best paper- SE Seneviratna prize, Effectiveness of low cost intervention to promote six months exclusive breast-feeding, 121st Annual Scientific Session of Sri Lanka Medical Association 2008.
Guest Lectures
Maternal Health Academic Consortium 2018, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Maternal Mental Health: Lessons from Sri Lanka, Harvard School of Public Health, 2013
Rethinking Kinship and Marriage in Sri Lanka: Gender, Intimacy, and Change, American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies 2015.
Grants
2018-2020: World Bank (AHEAD grant) Generating evidence for Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality (EPMM) through broader sociological perspectives.LKR 40,000,000 Role: PI
2018–2020: University of Sydney. A stepped wedge trial of the scaling up of a community-based alcohol education program in rural Sri Lankan villages and its effects on alcohol use, and associated harms, depression and social capital. Role: Co- Investigator
2012-14: Rajarata University of Sri Lanka “Cultural Adaptation and Validation of a Tool to measure Social Capital related to health among Pregnant Women of Anuradhapura District”; Rs 721,000; Role- Principal Investigator
2015-16: WHO TDR. Agampodi. Implementation Research Training for control of Tropical Diseases in Sri Lanka. $ 49,995. Role: Project Coordinator
2015: Rajarata University of Sri Lanka. Agampodi et al. Mindful Motherhood”: A program to promote maternal mental well-being. LKR 280,000. Role: Co-investigator
2014: WHO. Evaluation of the midday meal assessment programme in North Central Province, $21,396. Role: Co-investigator
2010-12: Engender Health. Disease Burden and the Economic Impact of Maternal Morbidity in Sri Lanka. $90,750. Role: Co-investigator
2009: Rajarata University of Sri Lanka. “Prevalence of non-communicable disease risk factors among medical undergraduates in the Faculty of Medicine and Allied Sciences” Role-PI
2009 Rajarata University of Sri Lanka. “The impact of exclusive breastfeeding on growth, respiratory tract infections and diarrhoea during infancy” Role: Co Investigator