Dr Rukmali Wijayarathna is an Early Career Researcher working with Professor Mark Hedger at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research. She is an emerging leader in the field of Reproductive Immunology, with a research focus on the unique immunoregulatory mechanisms within the male reproductive tract. This work is important to understand how inflammation resulting from infections of the male reproductive tract can impact fertility, and ultimately help improve men’s reproductive health.

Dr Wijayarathna received her Bachelor’s degree in Veterinary Medicine at the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka. She then completed her PhD under the supervision of Professor David de Kretser in 2017, through a joint PhD program between Monash University, Australia and the Justus-Liebig University, Germany. Her PhD research expanded the knowledge on the roles of the pleiotrophic growth factors activins and their binding-protein follistatin within the male reproductive tract.