Sunday Times 2
A Sri Lankan Pride
View(s):Dr. Binodh S. DeSilva, is the first Sri Lankan native to be elected to serve as president-elect of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS), a professional member-based non-profit organization. She will begin a three-year term on the AAPS Executive Council (as president-elect, president, and immediate past president) in October of this year at the 2015 AAPS Annual Meeting and Exposition in Orlando, Fla.
Dr. Binodh S. DeSilva
Dr. DeSilva has been an active member of AAPS, which is a professional, scientific organisation of approximately 10,000 members employed in academia, industry, government, and other research institutes worldwide. Founded in 1986, AAPS advances the capacity of pharmaceutical scientists to develop products and therapies that improve global health. She currently serves as a Member-at-Large in the executive council. Prior to this role she volunteered as conference chairs, Biotec section chair and mentoring junior scientists in the pharmaceutical field.
Dr. DeSilva started her professional career at Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals, in New York. Thereafter she joined AMGEN, California to lead the bioanalytical team from 2001-2010. Since 2010 she has been leading the immunochemistry and biomarker development group at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company in New Jersey. She received her Ph.D. in Chemistry (Bioanalytical) in 1994 from the University of Kansas, Kansas.
Dr. DeSilva’s various awards and honors include the Founder of the Ligand Binding Assay session award at the Workshop on Regulated Bionalysis (2014), Platinum Award for Science and Technology from Visakha Vidyalaya Old Girls Association’s 75th Anniversary celebrations, for an alumni living outside of Sri Lanka (2010), an AAPS Presidential Citation award in 2010, for promoting the National Biotechnology conference to University students in non-pharmacy related disciplines, Procter & Gamble Outstanding Science and Technology Award for Product Development Sector (1997), Kansas Health Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship (1994 and 1995), the Procter & Gamble Bioanalytical Fellowship (1992) and Outstanding First Year Student (1984, Sri Lanka).
She is an accomplished scientist and has published several papers in renowned peer reviewed journals, and book chapters. She has presented her work at numerous international meetings as both podium and poster presentations. Dr. DeSilva served as the President of the Visakha Alumni Association of Southern California board of directors from 2008-2010. She is also a member of the American Chemical Society and serves on the scientific advisory boards of several organisations.
Binodh had a humble beginning in Sri Lanka where she grew up until she left for the United States to pursue her higher education. Born to parents who were dedicated teachers, she had her primary education at Visakha Vidyalaya Colombo. She was an active student, and a Girl Guide who spent time volunteering her time in service projects to serve the under privileged. She worked her way to the highest level of President’s Guide. She received her Bachelor’s in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka in 1987. In 1988 she went to the University of Kansas to continue her graduate studies.
Binodh currently resides in New Jersey, USA with her husband and their two daughters. Despite her busy work schedule Dr. DeSilva always try to keep her family ties strong and has an acute sense of culture of her mother country.
She is a well-known pharmaceutical scientist globally and an inspiration to our country. Connect with Dr. Binodh De Silva through LinkedIn.