Prof. Hemali Goonasekera graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo in 1998. She obtained postgraduate qualifications, a Diploma in Pathology and an MD in Haematology, from the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2002 and 2004, respectively. She completed the foreign component of her specialist training in hematology at the Oxford Radcliffe NHS, Trust, Oxford UK, and became a board-certified Consultant Haematologist at the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine, Colombo, Sri Lanka in December 2007. She has been working as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Colombo since July 2007. Her research interests are in genetic thrombophilia, haematolo-oncology genetics, and Haemoglobinopathies and she conducts thrombophilia clinics at the Human Genetics Unit in the Faculty of Medicine.