Dr. Romain Shanil Perera

Dr. Romain Shanil Perera graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo in 2006 with second class honours. After completing his internship at Lady Ridgeway Hospital for children, he joined the Allied Health Sciences Unit of the Faculty of Medicine, Colombo in 2009, now the department of Allied Health Sciences.

Building on his interest in musculoskeletal diseases, he read for his PhD at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, exploring the relationship between lower back pain, disc degeneration and genetic factors. He completed in 2017.

He has a Diploma in Information Technology by the British Computer Society, where he is an associate member. He is trained in research methodology and evidence based medicine, sports and exercise science, rehabilitation and genetics. He is a member of the Sri Lanka Medical Association and the North American Spine Society.

Dr. Perera has held several posts at the Faculty of Medicine Colombo. He was the co-ordinator of the Basic Sciences Stream in the BSc. Physiotherapy undergraduate programme from 2009 to 2013 and resumed the post in 2017. He is also the chairperson, Research Stream of the BSc. Physiotherapy programme conducted by the Faculty. He is also a reviewer of the Ethics Review subcommittee, department of Allied Health Sciences. He served as the assistant treasurer, Colombo Medical School Alumni Association (CoMSAA) from 2013 to 2014 and as editor in 2015.

Dr Perera is keenly interested in medical and health professions education, completing the certificate in Teaching in Higher Education (CTHE) from the university of Colombo and being accredited as a teacher in higher education Staff Education and Development Association (SEDA), UK in 2010. He was selected as a master trainer in “Enhancing Healthcare Education in Sri Lanka” programme which was conducted by the Singapore International Foundation and Temasek Foundation, Singapore in Collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka and the University of Colombo.

He has contributed as a resource person for training programmes on Physical Activity and Exercise for In-Service Training of Nursing Officers and Medical officers in Public Health and has co-authored the book chapter on “Exercise for your daily life” in the Hand Book for Health Educator Staff, published by the NIROGI Lanka project of the SLMA. He has contributed immensely to the development of training and research collaboration with the School of Applied Social Sciences (Sport), Durham University, UK.

Dr. Perera’s research interests are low back pain, spine rehabilitation, degenerative spinal diseases and genetic variations in musculoskeletal disorders. He has been awarded research grants from the University of Colombo and the University Grants Commission. He has several publications in peer reviewed indexed journals such as BMC musculoskeletal disorders and PLOS One.  He has presented his research in over 20 local and international conferences, and is a reviewer for many international journals.