History of the Physiological Society of Sri Lanka (PSSL) – “Search, Teach, Serve”

The idea of forming the Physiological Society of Sri Lanka (PSSL) was conceived by the then Professor of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya and the doyen of Physiology in Sri Lanka, Professor Valentine Basnayake in 1987. He then conveyed this idea to Professor Carlo Fonseka, Professor of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo at that time. With the help of Dr M T M Jiffry, the preliminary organisational work was done and the physiological community in Sri Lanka was informed about the impending event.

The inaugural meeting of the Physiological Society of Sri Lanka was held on the 29 May 1987 at the New Lecture Theatre of the Faculty of Medicine, Colombo. Professor Basnayake's inaugural address adumbrated his vision for the Physiological Society of Sri Lanka. Professor Basnayake was elected the President of the Society, Dr Jiffry the Secretary and Professor Fonseka the Vice President. This meeting was chaired by Professor Earle de Fonseka who was the then Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo. There were 33 distinguished personalities from different fields of medicine in the audience. A decision was taken to include all those who attended the inaugural meeting as Founder Members of the Society. They were Professors T E J de Fonseka, V Basnayake, C Fonseka, S R Kottegoda, S H P Nanayakkara, W M T Weerasinghe, C de F W Goonaratna, P L R Dias, E H Karunanayake and Drs M T M Jiffry, P Weerakone, A Weerasuriya, K Weerasuriya, K H Tennekoon, S A Dissanayake, A S Dissanayake, M H R Sheriff, W U S de Mel, T V de Mel, C de Mel, M Udupihille, P Balasuriya, V S Weerasinghe, R Fernadopulle, K S A Jayasinghe, L Gunasekera, J Welihinde, L Mendis, S Mendis, S Mendis, N T Kurukulasuriya, K Gomez and V Balasubramanium.

The meeting commenced with Professor Carlo Fonseka outlining the objectives of the Society. He also tabled a letter he had written to the WHO requesting assistance to the Society to hold the first K N Seneviratne Memorial Oration. Professor K N Seneviratne, having succeeded Professor A C E Koch as Professor of Physiology of the Faculty of Medicine, University of  Colombo in 1969, served the Department of Physiology with great distinction up to 1981 and joined the WHO as a Regional Director. His untimely death in 1986 occurred when he was on an assignment in this capacity in Bali, Indonesia. Given his background, the WHO had no hesitation in facilitating the inaugural K N Seneviratne Memorial Oration by arranging his PhD supervisor at the University of Edinburgh, Professor David Whitteridge FRS to deliver the oration in 1987. In the meantime, the first A C E Koch Memorial Oration was delivered by Professor Carlo Fonseka as the first formal event of the PSSL. This was organized by the PSSL with the assistance of the family of the late Professor A C E Koch. His wife, Doris Christobel Mary Koch and their daughter Anne Koch were in attendance at the Inaugural A C E Koch Memorial Oration.

It is a matter of pride to the Physiological Society of Sri Lanka that these orations, the A C E Koch Memorial Oration and the K N Seneviratne Memorial Oration have been held annually to date. In 2003, the birth anniversary of Professor A C E Koch was commemorated by having a special session by a number of speakers and presentation of a book by selected authors. Subsequent to the inaugural meeting, every year the Society has held it's Annual Scientific Sessions which included guest lectures, symposia, free papers and student presentations in topics covering various areas of Physiology and Medicine. In addition, regional meetings have been held in the Departments of Physiology in different Medical Faculties to promote fellowship among physiologists working throughout the country. V Basnayake Endowment lectures were held annually on the topics covering "Everyday Physiology" and "Student Physiology Research". The Society's Logo was designed by a medical student following an open competition launched by the Society. The logo contains the motto of the Society 'Search, Teach, Serve' which was coined by Professor Basnayake as the guiding force of the Society. PSSL newsletter was started by Professor Jiffry at the beginning, and was revived again in 2004 by Professor Vajira Weerasinghe as the Editor of the PSSL. In recent times Dr Dinithi Fernando, as the Editor of the PSSL has been able to continuously publish the newsletter to keep the membership updated about the activities of the Society.

From the beginning our Society has been in contact with the International Physiological Societies. Many of our members have participated in the IUPS (International Union of Physiological Societies) and in FAOPS (Federation of Asian Oceanian Physiological Societies) congresses and most recently we have been able to actively contribute to the formulation of the SAAP (South Asian Association of Physiologists). In 2012 the 3rd SAAP conference and the 25th year Silver Jubilee celebrations of the Physiological Society of Sri Lanka was held jointly in Colombo in grand style with the participation of the Physiologists from Sri Lanka as well as from the SAARC countries. It was a matter of great satisfaction to the members of the PSSL celebrating the Silver Jubilee of the Society that the founding father of the PSSL, Professor Valentine Basnayake at age 87 participated at the celebrations. It is singularly apposite to recount here some of the remarks he made in his address at the inauguration of the PSSL held on 22 Nov 1987.

"For those of us in the community of Physiology this is an historic occasion. For me, after 38 years in Physiology it is a long dream come true. The dream began many years ago after the then one and only medical school underwent binary fission into the Colombo School and the Peradeniya School. Subsequently other medical schools arose. We do wish to have variety but we shall be varieties of the same species, capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. That as I see is the main function of the Physiological Society that is about to be formed... There are other functions to be fulfilled by the Society... Among these functions should be that of doing what we ought to have done in the University but have not done. For instance, research, teaching and community service... This last function, the University has functions — community service, so inevitably and grandly fulfilled by the clinical disciplines and the para clinical disciplines... is practically non-existent in the preclinical disciplines including Physiology. The Society must fill this void by including within its scope of activities a section on Social Physiology... In all endeavours the spirit that permeates us shall be strictly academic and scientific spirit of a concern for truth... Though born in the lap of Medical Human Physiology, the Society will welcome all who are interested in academic Physiology, pertaining to all organisms from microbes to plants and the animals, from the individual organisms and its organs and tissues and cells to populations to communities of organisms... We shall be a Society where people dream dreams nearer to those of the scientific dreamer... where stones are dropped into deep pools and where torches are lit and burnt in the dark night. We have arrived at the moment of self-realisation."

Looking back on the 25 years of its history, it is pertinent to ask: What has the PSSL achieved in the quarter of a century of its existence? In an era in which medical academic societies depend largely on private commercial enterprises for sponsorship of their activities, the PSSL has been able not only to survive but also to thrive and even flourish on its own resources generously supported by well-wishers. In terms of the vision of its founding father, the Physiological Society, uniting as it does members of the Physiological Community spread all over Sri Lanka, has been capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring who will continue to fulfill the accredited mission of the Society, namely to search, to teach and to serve. It is true that changes in medical education during the last 25 years emphasizing the need for integration of various disciplines into an organic whole in the education of a basic doctor, have tended to blur the central role of Physiology. Even so, the role of Physiology in postgraduate medical education has if anything but assumed even greater importance. Let it be remembered that Alfred Nobel decided to award a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. After all it was E.H. Starling, the famous English Physiologist who taught Lucian De Zilwa, who taught A C E Koch, who taught Valentine Basnayake who conceived and founded the PSSL, who memorably said: "The Physiology of today is the Medicine of tomorrow". This was true when it was uttered in the 20th century; it will be truer in the 21 century.

(from the “History of the Physiological Society of Sri Lanka” written by Professor Vajira Weerasinghe and Professor Carlo Fonseka and published in the 25th Anniversary souvenir of the Physiological Society of Sri Lanka.)

Achievements of the PSSL

The PSSL was formed in 1987 to encourage and support research in physiology, to help dissemination of knowledge in different fields of physiology, to promote involvement of physiologists in community development and to promote fellowship among the physiologists in all fields of science. Since its inception the PSSL has strived to achieve these objectives through academic activities organized by the PSSL and through the contributions of individual members of the Society.

• Annual Scientific sessions and workshops

The PSSL has held an annual scientific sessions to promote research and dissemination of knowledge in physiology since its inception in 1987. The sessions include guest lectures, symposia, free papers and student presentations in topics covering various areas of Physiology and Medicine. In addition to the main sessions a precongress workshop has also been included in recent years. The sessions have a wide participation of members in both medical as well as in non-medical fields related to physiology. The PSSL also organizes workshops on various topics in practical physiology with the assistance of the Physiology departments of the Medical Faculties each year. The PSSL has conducted symposia jointly with other medical societies and with the Sri Lanka Medical Association at its 125^th anniversary sessions.

• PSSL Orations

The PSSL holds three annual orations, A C E Koch, K N Seneviratne and Valentine Basayake orations to commemorate three past distinguished physiologists of Sri Lanka. Two of these orations to commemorate the distinguished physiologists Prof. A C E Koch and Prof. K N Seneviratne have been held uninterruptedly since the inception of the PSSL in 1987.  The third oration has been held since 2014 to commemorate Professor Valentine Basnayake, the founder President of the PSSL who passed away on 10^th June, 2014. The PSSL has invited world renowned scientists from Sri Lanka, the Asian region and Europe to deliver these annual orations.

• South Asian Association of Physiologists  (SAAP)

The PSSL has joined with the other Physiological Societies of the South Asian region to form the South Asian Association of Physiologists (SAAP) in 2008 with a view to facilitate communication among member societies and to promote scientific exchange and establish closer professional contacts among those working in the field of Physiology in the region. The PSSL was given the honour of establishing the SAAP secretariat in Sri Lanka at the 3^rd SAAP General Assembly.

• Conference of the South Asian Association of Physiologists and 25^th anniversary celebrations of the PSSL

PSSL successfully hosted the 3^rd biennial conference of the South Asian Association of Physiologists (SAAP-3) at Hotel Taj Samudra, Colombo from 7 – 10^th November, 2012 under the theme “Advances in Physiology: trends and opportunities”. The 25^th anniversary of the PSSL was celebrated along with the SAAP conference inauguration in grand style at Hotel Taj Samudra  on 7^th November, 2012. The silver jubilee anniversary was commemorated with the felicitation of four distinguished physiologists who have made significant contributions to physiology – Prof. Valentine Basnayake, Prof. Carlo Fonseka, Prof. Colvin Goonaratne and Prof. Malini Udupihille. The SAAP-3 scientific conference was a great success attended by delegates from all five member Physiological societies (Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka). Conference participants came from all SAAP countries, Middle East and Europe to attend the conference and conference workshops, to present 33 oral communications and 88 posters.

• Collaboration with international bodies

PSSL has been approved as a member society of the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS) in 2017 under the Adhering Body category which has the right to appoint a voting delegate to the general assembly of the IUPS. In addition many of our members have participated in the IUPS (International Union of Physiological Societies) and in FAOPS (Federation of Asian Oceanian Physiological Societies) congresses held throughout the world.

• Inter Medical Faculty Physiology Quiz

The PSSL has organized an annual Inter Medical Faculty Physiology Quiz to promote physiology teaching and learning since 2013 onwards with the participation of student teams from all medical faculties in Sri Lanka. The trophy awarded for the winning team has been named the Professor Carlo Fonseka Challenge Trophy in honour of Emeritus Professor Carlo Fonseka, an eminent professor of Physiology of Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, and founder member and past president of the PSSL.

• Postgraduate Diploma in Medical Physiology

The PSSL has actively contributed to the establishment of the Postgraduate Diploma in Medical Physiology of the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo in 2013. The course content was developed by PSSL members who were in the Specialty Board in Physiology of the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine. In addition PSSL members are involved in the teaching and assessment of this Physiology Diploma course at the PGIM.