Prof. Tissa Wijeratne awarded Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM)

The World Federation of Neurology (WFN) congratulates Professor Tissa Wijeratne, WFN Public Awareness & Advocacy Committee co-chair, on his award of the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to medicine as a neurologist.

The Order of Australia is the pre-eminent way Australians recognise the achievements and service of their fellow citizens, and the Medal of Order is awarded for service worthy of particular recognition.

Currently chair of the Department of Neurology at Western Health, Tissa is a Professor in Neurology and clinical Associate Professor in Medicine at Western Health Clinical School. He has published over 350 papers which are cited over 85,000 times by his peers worldwide. Tissa has published more than 3000 print and radio segments as a medical journalist, and has appeared on national radio and television in Sri Lanka and Australia. 

During the first 18 months of the global pandemic, while practising clinically at Western Health, Tissa identified and named “Post Covid-19 Neurological Syndrome” as a new and distinct syndrome. This syndrome is now known globally as “long COVID”. Tissa also completed a world-first PhD on the effects of long COVID on brain health.

In 2016 Tissa became the first Sri Lankan-born neurologist to lead an academic neurology department in Australia, and he is the first ever visiting Professor of Neurology to be appointed to a Sri Lankan University, with appointments as Visiting Professor of Neurology at Rajarata University, Sri Lanka and the Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya.

Since 2019, Tissa has chaired the WFN's World Brain Day.