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Outreach & Community Engagement

A continuing commitment to community health, recovery, scientific exchange, and practical access to knowledge.

  • Sri Lanka
  • Community health & recovery
  • Science & mentorship
Community gathering during a Positive Deviance/Hearth program in Sri Lanka
Field note · Sri LankaCommunity nutrition work · Positive Deviance/Hearth

Community gathering during a Positive Deviance/Hearth program in Sri Lanka. Photograph by Jonathan Weerakkody.

Grounded in community work

A continuing commitment to community health, recovery, and access.

I was born in Sri Lanka to parents who both worked in the NGO sector. During the civil war, my father worked in war-affected areas. Their work shaped my understanding that support has to be practical, sustained, and accountable to the people closest to a problem. I left at eighteen to study engineering in the United States, and I continue to support this work alongside my family.

Each setting is different, but the work has centered on supporting families with young children, helping schools recover and continue, creating routes into STEM, and sharing knowledge through trusted local partners. I remain involved because this work matters in its own right.

Continuing support

Community work in Sri Lanka, beyond a single role

These roles began at distinct points in my training, but they are part of a longer family commitment that I continue to support. Learn about the organizations or support their work directly below.

Scientific community building

Making scientific exchange more connected and durable.

This same trajectory now includes scientific communities: convening clinicians, engineers, biologists, and trainees across disciplines, career stages, and geographies.

Cross-disciplinary community

Yale Extracellular Vesicle Club

Founded a forum that brings clinicians, engineers, biologists, and trainees into the same conversation around extracellular-vesicle science.

Global early-career exchange

Student Network on Extracellular Vesicles

Contribute to international seminars, networking, and career-development programming that connects early-career EV researchers across continents.

Training through research

Mentoring across fields

Mentor trainees working across engineering, biology, and medicine—from lipid nanoprobes and EV isolation to membrane-on-a-chip and CNS-EV projects.