Melanie Amarasooriya Consultant Orthopedic Surgeon (Sri Lanka) Ministry of Health Sri Lanka, Flinders University South Australia

Melanie is a hand and wrist surgeon from Sri Lanka, She is the first woman to be an orthopaedic surgeon in the country. Following her training in Sri Lanka, then she completed the International Surgical Training Fellowship in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Royal College of Surgeons England. She also completed the Australian Orthopaedic Association (AOA) fellowship in hand and wrist surgery at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne and a Clinical and Research Fellowship in Upper Limb Surgery at the Flinders Medical Centre, South Australia. Melanie was awarded the 1. Asia Pacific Wrist Travelling fellowship 2019 2. Australian Federation of University Women centenary scholarship 2022 3. Flinders University Research Scholarship 2023 Melanie has completed her PhD in wrist biomechanics at the Flinders University of South Australia. She was elected to the Flinders University Student Union in 2021/22 and held the position of Post Graduate Students Officer and represented the students’ union in the university Academic senate and its subcommittees. She also held positions on the webinar committee of the International Orthopaedic Diversity Alliance (IODA), the fellowship committee of the Asia Pacific Wrist Association (APWA) and the Social Media Committee of the International Wrist Arthroscopy Society (IWAS). She has been a resource person and delivered lectures for the teaching webinar series organised by the British Hand Surgery Society (BSSH) global partnership program. Melanie has published many peer-reviewed research papers, and book chapters and delivered many scientific presentations at international meetings, including invited presentations. She was the keynote speaker at the scientific sessions of the Sri Lankan Hand Surgery Society 2022. She is passionate about teaching junior colleagues and continue to teach medical and allied health students at Flinders University and the Adelaide University, South Australia.