Tissa Wijeratne is a Sri Lankan and Australian neurologist, author, academic, researcher, advocate and one of the founders of World Brain Day. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Tissa Wijeratne is a Sri Lankan and Australian neurologist, author, academic, researcher, advocate and one of the founders of World Brain Day. [1] [2] [3] [4]
He was born in one of the most rural cities (Bandarawela), Uva Province (the poorest province in Sri Lanka, largely secondary to the ethnic genocide in 1815-1816. He attended a primary school that did not have high academic ambitions for the pupils. He missed out on schooling for nine months while he was still a grade nine student at Kirioruwa School, one of the most rural Schools in Uva province to date. He has been an avid reader since the age five and managed to finish his entire school library as a year one student. Avid reading made him determined to follow an academic course. He was interested in politics from a young age (He delivered the opening speech at the final rally of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party,infront of the world first female prime minister, [5] Late Mrs Sirimawo Bandaranayake Sirimavo Bandaranaike as a primary school student to an standing ovation in 1977 1977 Sri Lankan parliamentary election). He plans to study economics and politics at university at the time. Wijeratne completed his high schools at the Bandarawela Central College ( also known as the Glendale, commenced as a branch of Royal College , Colombo, during the second world war). [6] As he grew up knowing biology and life sciences at the Bandarawela Central College, he became interested medicine, [7] [ circular reference ] [8] and was accepted by the University of Peradeniya, which was interrupted during the 1987-1989 JVP insurrection. [9] Wijeratne was reborn as a well-known science Journalist during this period. He became a popular journalist with popular scince weekly "Vidusara", national news paper "Divaina", women's weekly "Navaliya", children's weekly " Bindu" edited by late Sibil Wettasinghe at that time. He published over 3000 segments in print media covering brain conditions, agriculture, global warming with a huge fan base across Sri Lanka at that time and went on to win the President's award as the best youth national spokes person in 1989. Wijeratne had an illustrious carrier as a young medical student. He was the compere of almost all major cultural activities at the University of Peradeniya from 1987 to 1994 where nearly all national figures in Sri Lankan music industry, drama industry received his free service as one of the most multi talented medical students of his time. He regularly appeared in Television media and national radio media at that time. As an outstanding old rounder, he went on to perform well at his final year exam with honours in 1995. He was appointed as an intern medical officer to Prof A.H. Sheriffdean for six months followed by further six months with Prof. A.H.R. Sheriff where the best physicians and surgeonstrained him in Sri Lanka. He then created a unique Sri Lankan record as he was appointed as a lecturer in Medicine, University of Peredeniya under the mentorship of Prof Nimal Senanayake, one of the most outstanding neurologists ever to be produced in Sri Lanka.
He was most inspired by the original work by his mentor Prof Nimal Senanayake as he continue to learn from his mentor from 1996 to 1999 as a lecturer in Medicine at the University of Peradeniya with ample exposure and clinical contribution towards the ongoing work of neurotoxicology under the leadership of Prof Nimal Senanayake at that time. [10] As a result of his marriage to a medical graduate from Flinders University, Australia, he had to migrate to Australia at an early stage of his career. Wijeratne had to re-train in internal medicine and successfully completed his neurology advanced training in number of world class centres across New Zealand and Australia. He met Professor Robert Helme for the first time in late 2004 with an agreement to set up the stroke services as a rising star in neurology in 2004 at the Footscray Hospital, Western Health. This was the beginning of a remarkable research carrier of Wijeratne. On subsequent years he went on to work acute stroke care improvement with landmark contributions towards acute stroke therapies in collaboration with his research network across Australia and New Zealand. [11] [12]
Wijeratne's research group was the first to describe Post COVID-19 Neurological Syndrome (PCNS, also known as Long Covid) and the role of Serial Systemic Immune Inflammatory indices (SSIIi) in PCNS at the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]
Wijeratne became a key catalyst for resurrecting headache research and advocacy in Australia. During this journey, Prof. Peter Goadsby [20] and Prof Jim Lance [21] mentored him. He became the key mastermind behind Australia's re-birth of headache society in 2024. Wijeratne wrote the original constitution, designed the logo and set up the first website template for the Australia New Zealand Headache Society. He produced the first-ever film on migraine and disability in Australia. His leadership was the key to establishing the first dedicated charity for migraine in 2018. [22] [23] [24] [25] Wijeratne and colleagues showed the world that migraine is the leading cause of disability in Australia in a landmark paper published in the Lancet in 2018. [26] He then led the historic first-ever World Brain Day campaign on migraine with outstanding success. [27] Wijeratne rallied the entire world towards a massive awareness campaign. On 22 July 2019, all ABC stations talked about migraines across Australia. [28] Wijeratne and colleagues launched the HEAD research group at the same time. Over five thousand headache admissions across 67 Emergency Departments across Australia and New Zealand were studied in real-time with zero research funding support. 14 landmark research papers were published out of this work. [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] Wijeratne et al went on introduce two new headache syndromes to the SNOOP-10 classification of secondary headaches with a proposal for SNOOP-12 during 2023 [36] Wijeratne was appointed as the Section Editor for Stroke, Section Editor for Migraine and headache medicine, Encyclopaedia 2023 Edition in 2021. [37] Advising to Science Direct, Wijeratne is Australia's leading academic publisher on migraine and headache disorders, COVID-19 and Brain Involvement, and Long COVID.
Migraine Foundation launched the first ever World Migraine Day on 18 June 2023 with a resounding success with Five Million Steps campaign. [38] Green colour theme was chosen by the hundreds of people with migraine as the green colour is most pleasing to the migraine impacted brain. [39] [40]
Wijeratne became the only medical student ever to win the President's award as the best All Island Youth Announcer in 1989 with immediate job offer to train as a full time broadcast media personal at the Belwood TV Village, Nugaliyadda, Kandy, Sri Lanka in 1989. [41] Wijeratne was the first neurologist to be awarded the inaugural Ted Munsatt award [42] for his contributions in global neurology education and advocacy in 2017. Wijeratne became the first Australian/Sri Lankan neurologist to be graduated from award winning Donald M Pallatuci advocacy program, American Academy of Neurology in 2008. [43] He went on become an advisor, faculty for the same program later on. In 2020, he became the first Australian neurologist to be awarded with the prestigous Kenneth Viste Global advocate of the year award, AAN. [44] 2019 Wijeratne became the first Australian physician to be the winner of the PRISCILLA KINCAID-SMITH AWARD Recognising outstanding achievement of a senior doctor who has undertaken pioneering work in medical practice, education or research, preventative health or patient advocacy. [45] [46] [47] [48]
He became the first Sri Lankan neurologist to be awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for his services towards global neurology on 26 January 2023. [49] [50] [51]
Migraine is a genetically influenced complex neurological disorder characterized by episodes of moderate-to-severe headache, most often unilateral and generally associated with nausea and light and sound sensitivity. Other characterizing symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, cognitive dysfunction, allodynia, and dizziness. Exacerbation of headache symptoms during physical activity is another distinguishing feature. Up to one-third of migraine sufferers experience aura, a premonitory period of sensory disturbance widely accepted to be caused by cortical spreading depression at the onset of a migraine attack. Although primarily considered to be a headache disorder, migraine is highly heterogenous in its clinical presentation and is better thought of as a spectrum disease rather than a distinct clinical entity. Disease burden can range from episodic discrete attacks, consisting of as little as several lifetime attacks, to chronic disease.
Neurology is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous system, which comprises the brain, the spinal cord and the peripheral nerves. Neurological practice relies heavily on the field of neuroscience, the scientific study of the nervous system.
Headache, also known as cephalalgia, is the symptom of pain in the face, head, or neck. It can occur as a migraine, tension-type headache, or cluster headache. There is an increased risk of depression in those with severe headaches.
A medication overuse headache (MOH), also known as a rebound headache, usually occurs when painkillers are taken frequently to relieve headaches. These cases are often referred to as painkiller headaches. Rebound headaches frequently occur daily, can be very painful and are a common cause of chronic daily headache. They typically occur in patients with an underlying headache disorder such as migraine or tension-type headache that "transforms" over time from an episodic condition to chronic daily headache due to excessive intake of acute headache relief medications. MOH is a serious, disabling and well-characterized disorder, which represents a worldwide problem and is now considered the third-most prevalent type of headache. The proportion of patients in the population with Chronic Daily Headache (CDH) who overuse acute medications ranges from 18% to 33%. The prevalence of medication overuse headache (MOH) varies depending on the population studied and diagnostic criteria used. However, it is estimated that MOH affects approximately 1-2% of the general population, but its relative frequency is much higher in secondary and tertiary care.
Mal de debarquement syndrome is a neurological condition usually occurring after a cruise, aircraft flight, or other sustained motion event. The phrase mal de débarquement is French and translates to "illness of disembarkment".
Visual snow syndrome (VSS) is an uncommon neurological condition in which the primary symptom is that affected individuals see persistent flickering white, black, transparent, or coloured dots across the whole visual field.
Triptans are a family of tryptamine-based drugs used as abortive medication in the treatment of migraines and cluster headaches. This drug class was first commercially introduced in the 1990s. While effective at treating individual headaches, they do not provide preventive treatment and are not considered a cure. They are not effective for the treatment of tension–type headache, except in persons who also experience migraines. Triptans do not relieve other kinds of pain.
Arachnoid cysts are cerebrospinal fluid covered by arachnoidal cells and collagen that may develop between the surface of the brain and the cranial base or on the arachnoid membrane, one of the three meningeal layers that cover the brain and the spinal cord. Primary arachnoid cysts are a congenital disorder whereas secondary arachnoid cysts are the result of head injury or trauma. Most cases of primary cysts begin during infancy; however, onset may be delayed until adolescence.
Macdonald Critchley CBE was a British neurologist. He was former president of the World Federation of Neurology, and the author of over 200 published articles on neurology and 20 books, including The Parietal Lobes (1953), Aphasiology, and biographies of James Parkinson and Sir William Gowers.
A neurological disorder is any disorder of the nervous system. Structural, biochemical or electrical abnormalities in the brain, spinal cord or other nerves can result in a range of symptoms. Examples of symptoms include paralysis, muscle weakness, poor coordination, loss of sensation, seizures, confusion, pain, tauopathies, and altered levels of consciousness. There are many recognized neurological disorders, some relatively common, but many rare. They may be assessed by neurological examination, and studied and treated within the specialties of neurology and clinical neuropsychology.
Professor Nimal Senanayake is a Sri Lankan neurologist, physician, author, film and television scriptwriter and academic.He has had many bad reviews about his treatment methods and the way he treats his patients
Occipital nerve stimulation (ONS), also called peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) of the occipital nerves, is used to treat chronic migraine patients who have failed to respond to pharmaceutical treatments.
Migraine treatment may be either prophylactic (preventive) or abortive (rescue) or acute. Prevention is better than cure, so the ideal treatment goal is to prevent migraine attacks. Because migraine is an exceedingly complex condition, there are various preventive treatments which have their effect by disrupting different links in the chain of events that occur during a migraine attack. As rescue treatments also target and disrupt different processes occurring during migraine, these are summarized, with their relative merits and demerits.
Frank Clifford Rose was a British neurologist, active in several journals and societies related to the specialty of neurology and its history, whose research contributed to the understanding of motor neurone disease, stroke and migraine. He developed an emergency stroke ambulance service with early neuroimaging, allowing for the detection of early reversible brain damage. In 1974, he established what would later be known as the Princess Margaret Migraine Clinic, a specialist clinic for headache at Charing Cross Hospital, where in 1965 he became their first appointed consultant neurologist.
Messoud Ashina is a Danish-Azerbaijani neurologist and neuroscientist. He is currently Professor of Neurology at the University of Copenhagen and Senior Consultant of Neurology at Copenhagen University Hospital - Rigshospitalet. He leads the Human Migraine Research Unit at the Danish Headache Center, Copenhagen University Hospital - Rigshospitalet. Ashina is also Director of the Danish Knowledge Center on Headache Disorders and Past President of the International Headache Society. As of 2024, Ashina is ranked as the world's leading expert on headache disorders by Expertscape.
James Waldo Lance AO, CBE (1926–2019), often referred to as James Lance and James W. Lance, was an Australian neurologist. He was the founder of the School of Neurology at the University of New South Wales and president of the International Headache Society in 1987–89, and a "world authority on the diagnosis and treatment" of headache and migraine.
Peter GoadsbyFRS FRACP FRCP is an Australian neuroscientist who is Director of the National Institute for Health Research - Wellcome Trust King’s Clinical Research Facility and Professor of Neurology at King's College London. His research has focused particularly on the mechanism and alleviation of migraine and cluster headaches.
Christopher J. Boes is an American neurologist and historian of medicine. He holds the titles of professor of neurology, professor of history of medicine, director of the W. Bruce Fye Center for the History of Medicine, at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, and since 2022 is the Mayo Clinic Designated Institutional Official (DIO). His research focuses on the management of headache, including migraine and trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias. His work in the field of history of medicine includes research on Sir William Gowers, Sir William Osler, Bayard Taylor Horton, Mary Broadfoot Walker, Betty Clements and Harry Lee Parker.
Pratibha Singhi is an Indian pediatric neurologist. As the first pediatric neurologist in the country, she built the fields of pediatric neurology and neurodevelopment there. She is head of pediatric neurology at Amrita Hospital, Faridabad. Formerly she was director of pediatric neurology and neurodevelopment at Medanta, and chief of pediatric neurology and neurodevelopment in the department of pediatrics, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh.
Zachary London is an American scientist. He is the James W. Albers Collegiate Professor of Neurology at the University of Michigan and program director of the neurology residency at the University of Michigan. He specializes in neuromuscular disease and electromyography. He has been celebrated for his innovative approach to interactive educational tools, and received the American Academy of Neurology A. B. Baker Award for Lifetime Achievement in Neurology Education in 2023.