Lakshman Samaranayake, Professor Emeritus of the University of Hong Kong, a clinical academic with expertise in oral and medical microbiology, research, and senior executive level administration; was awarded the honorary doctorate degree of Yerevan State Medical University.
The ceremony took place within the extraordinary meeting of the Scientific Council in the framework of the first Armenian-Italian international conference organized by the Yerevan State Medical University, the Armenian Association of Dentists, and the Italian Association of Dentists.
YSMU Rector, Professor Armen Muradyan welcomed colleagues and guests: “It is a great honor for us to host you under the roof of Yerevan State Medical University, and I think that these conferences, which have become a tradition, once again emphasize that the medical university confirms its internationalization process. We have set ourselves a priority task: to consider the Faculty of Dentistry in terms of international accreditation. It is gratifying that the innovations, the logistical processes that we have applied, today bring their logical result, in particular, the integration of world-renowned specialists in our university work”, Armen Muradyan said, adding that the conference uniting around ten countries, as well as the accreditation the process, are also important for young professionals, foreign students studying here from 34 countries of the world.
Lakshman Samaranayake addressed the audience with a word of gratitude: “It’s a great honor for me. This is my first visit to this beautiful city and to your great university. It’s an absolute pleasure for me to be in this part of the world. So, I come from Asia. I was born in Sri Lanka, but I work in Hong Kong. I have been working in five different universities all over the world – University of Hong Kong, University of Glasgow, University of Alberta, University of Sharjah, and University of Kuwait. Having visited all these universities and having lectured in more than 40 countries in all five continents, I can see the enthusiasm of your university and its cooperation with all the internationalized schools and universities. This is a very progressive university! And I am honored once again to receive this wonderful award, and I know that very few people have received it. I look forward to working closely with the Faculty of Dentistry and the University”.
With over four decades of experience in academia, Lakshman Samaranayake was the former Executive Dean of two major dental schools at the Universities of Hong Kong (HKU) and Queensland, Australia. The Faculty of Dentistry at HKU he steered for a decade was the top ranked Dental School in the World from 2014-2016 (QS/THE Rankings).
The author of over 400 scientific communications, cited over 34,000 occasions (H-index 102), Professor Samaranayake was recently ranked as the 11th out of 43,737 microbiology scholars in China by Research.com. His textbooks on the oral microbiome, with multi-translations and multi-editions, and sales of over 40,000 copies, are used by students and scholars internationally.
For Professor Samaranayake`s seminal contributions to oral sciences he has received numerous international accolades including the coveted King James IV Professorship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the Distinguished Scientist Award from the International Association for Dental Research, Washington, USA.
