Gayani Nawarathna

Gayani Nawarathna is a PhD candidate at the College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University, Australia.  She is a recipient of a full postgraduate research scholarship from James Cook University. She commenced her PhD in July 2026, with research interests in sleep and peripheral arterial disease.

Gayani is currently on study leave from her position as a Lecturer in the Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Dental Sciences, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, where she has been involved in undergraduate teaching since 2019 and previously served as Head of the Division of Physiology. Her teaching experience includes physiology, anatomy, dental anatomy, and biochemistry, with a particular focus on human physiology. She has also contributed to undergraduate student research supervision.

She holds a Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) with First Class Honours from the University of Peradeniya and subsequently completed a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya. Her academic achievements include the K. N. Seneviratne Memorial Research Award 2025 for outstanding contributions to physiological research, as well as several academic awards and gold medals from the University of Peradeniya. She has also received competitive research funding and an International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology travel grant.

Her research background spans clinical research, clinical neurophysiology, cognitive neuroscience, and vascular physiology. During her MPhil, she investigated the effects of a L-theanine–caffeine combination on neurobehavioural and neurophysiological measures of selective attention in adolescents with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and acutely sleep-deprived healthy adults through double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover clinical trials. Her research training includes EEG and event-related potential studies, neuropsychological assessment, and clinical research.

She is a registered dental surgeon with the Sri Lanka Medical Council and a member of the International Clinical Neurophysiology Society and the American Physiological Society, as well as a life member of the Physiological Society of Sri Lanka. Gayani has published research in international peer-reviewed journals and presented her research at national and international conferences.