Editors message

Happy New Year and welcome to the inaugural newsletter of the Sri Lanka Medical Association of North America, East Coast, an organization of healthcare and allied professionals working towards charitable efforts in Sri Lanka.

Rushika and I are delighted to be co-editors and will take turns editing. Our mission is to provide a vehicle for news about the organization, upcoming events, and updates on charitable works. We would like to highlight member’s professional achievements and news about their research. In addition, we hope to keep you abreast of the latest news impacting healthcare in general.

We would welcome, and indeed seek out, articles of interest from our talented and distinguished membership: review articles, excerpts of original peer reviewed research by members, as well as medical news from the USA and Sri Lanka. The newsletter is intended to serve you, our readers, and therefore we will modify, diversify and expand it according to your needs.

In this issue we have reports from around the Eastern seaboard as well as from the motherland. Intensive care management for rural settings has been a major interest for Dr. De Silva from Colombo, while Prof. Ranil de Silva’s group brought more attention to Dementia in Sri Lanka with the opening of a Brain bank. The WHO declared Sri Lanka clear of Malaria in 2016 (once again), but we now have an unprecedented increase in Dengue fever. We take a brief look at efforts to curb infection. Closer to home, Dr. Conroy updates us on the recently FDA approved “artificial pancreas”, and I have included a short review of Fecal Microbial Transplantation, an emerging method for restoring balance to the colonic biome and curing some diseases. Finally, we have a perspective on MACRA by Dr Rohan Perera.

We welcome your feedback via “letters to the editors”. We will publish selected responses with your permission. You can read the newsletter online or print it for your quiet enjoyment. We sincerely hope you enjoy this first issue.

With very best wishes,
Ramona