Professor Emeritus Kamini Mendis M.B., B.S., M.D., Ph.D., D.Sc. is a malariologist, medical scientist, and public health expert renowned for her contributions to malaria science and research, and to training new malaria scientists. She advises several Southeast Asian ministries of health (including Sri Lanka’s) and international agencies on tropical medicine, health and disease. As a professor at the University of Colombo’s Faculty of Medicine in the late 1980s, she established and led an internationally acclaimed malaria research group. In 1997, she helped establish the Geneva-based Global Forum for Health Research, and in 1998 helped launch the World Health Organization’s (WHO) flagship Roll Back Malaria Initiative. She worked as a senior professional in the WHO until her retirement and served on the WHO’s Malaria Policy Advisory Committee until 2018. She now sits on the WHO Malaria Elimination Oversight Committee, among other committees on Southeast Asia.