Dr. Oscar S.Gluck Award for Sunil J. Wimalawansa

By Walter Jayawardhana

Sunil J. Wimalawansa, M.D., Ph. D., M.B.A., CCD, FCCP, MAcF, MRCPath, FCCP, FRCP, DSc, a prominent agitator against separatist activities of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and its front organizations and a patriot of Sri Lanka has been selected to receive the ISCD’s “Dr. Oscar S. Gluck ISCD Humanitarian Award” for “outstanding service to those in need.”

Presentation of the award will take place at the ISCD’s Presidential Luncheon and Annual Business Meeting to be held on Saturday, March 17th in Tampa Florida. The award consists of a monetary award as well as a plaque.

The award has been granted , it is learnt, for the special assistance and care shown by Wimalawansa for the benefit of minority students in the university, where he has taught.

The award was announced in a letter written by the West Hartford CT based Associate Director ,Martin Rotblatt of the International Society for the Clinical Densitometry (ISCD) in a letter dated February 6.

Wimalawansa is the current Chair of the New Jersey state Council of Osteoporosis and has been an active board member of the Texas and NJ/NY Regional Osteoporosis Boards since 1998. He has written an osteoporosis book for primary care physicians titled Osteoporosis: Time to Act. He has received numerous awards, including several young investigator awards, the Dr. Boy Frame Award for Clinical Excellence in Metabolic Bone Diseases (ASBMR, 1993), multiple Glen Foundation Awards for Endocrinology/Aging from the American Endocrine Society, and a special recognition award from the Asian Chamber of Commerce for his innovations.

He completed a diploma in Medical Administration at Johns Hopkins School of Business in 2000 and an Executive MBA program (MBA) at Rutgers University in New Jersey in 2006. He has a broad basic and clinical research experience in endocrinology, clinical and teaching skills, interactions with media and public officials, especially in supporting scientific research and research funding.

Wimalawansa, an old boy of Ananda College is a son of the late Mr.D.S.Wimalawansa de Silva who was a civil servant of Sri Lanka hailing from Ambalangoda. He held his final position as the Government Agent Colombo before his retirement. Sunil’s mother died here in the United States few months ago. Before being graduated from the London University, the late Wimalawansa studied oriental languages under Agga Maha Panditha Powatte Sri Buddhadaththa maha Thera. Both father and son are well-known for their patriotism inculcated in them by the maha Sangha.