Professor Emeritus Priyani Soyza ane Dr. Ananda Soyza
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Sam
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News, Views and More from Batch'64, Faculty of Medicine, Colombo, SriLanka
"Best and the Brightest from 1964"
News, Views and More from Batch'64, Faculty of Medicine, Colombo, SriLanka 
Dear Sam,
Thank you for posting this nice picture of Prof Priyani Soyza. It brought back memories of out medical student days when we had to study hard and never thought that we would see our teachers so many years later. It also made me realise how wonderful this web is, to share stories and pictures of ”days gone by” and reminisce the past with great delight. Praxy
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First woman to be appointed to a Prof Chair in Sri Lanka. Product of Prince of Wales , Moratuwa, after receiving her qualifications in UK served in various parts of the country including Jaffna before becoming Prof of Pediatrics, the post she held for 25 years.
Expert in Nutrition and I.D. , she was instrumental in promoting breast feeding in SriLanka , a practice considered to be “unfashionable” at the time. She was able to restrict infant formula advertising and formulated national policy in Breast feeding.
A “dark moment” in her professional life was perhaps one of the earliest malpractice suits filed against her by a lawyer for the death of his own son. After years of litigation, the case was dismissed by the supreme court of SL for lack of evidence.
Great lady!
Sam
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Thank you Sam for posting the picture. It was nice to see them both at the RU64. I remember them as very elegant stylish individuals. Prof. Ananda was always dressed impeccably, with a bow tie , a nice suit and one could recognize him from a distance. So was Prof Priyani always well dressed.
It was sad to see Prof. Ananda that way confined to a wheel chair. Unfortunately that is life. We all have to go through it. Some of us age gracefully others do not. There is nothing called growing old gracefully. As for me I am willing to fight it all the way.
Nisantha
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I agree with you Nisantha.
On the negative side after reading the post some have indicated to me privately how ineffective she was as a teacher. I am in agreement as well , she was never my favorite teacher, perhaps the reason I never had a desire to take up Pediatrics!
Does anyone know the details of her malpractice suit?
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Yes Sam, she was not one of my favourites either. We learnt a lot about her family during her tutorials, even more than paediatrics !! I recall Prof C.C.De silva on his retirement mentioning ” I am leaving the baby in the safe hands of Dr Stella de Silva” but unfortunately she never had that opportunity due to political interference of prof priyani ‘s camp.
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It is nice to see our teacher still around, bringing back old memories
Thanks for posting this picture
Deva caanthan
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Hi Sam,
It was nice to our teachers Prof Priyani and Prof Ananda after a along time. They seemed to have aged gracefully. As a Pediatrician I’ am thankful that my initial exposure to the field of Pediatrics was at LRH Colombo under Prof Priyani( Clinicals). Training in USA was entirely different and I was able compare and contrast the styles and appreciate the opportunity to advance my career in USA; for which I ‘am grateful.
Ranjit
Winter Haven.
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Thank you Sam sending photos of prof. Priyani and prof. Ananda. My memorie took me back to medical student day when we are learning with prof Priyani.
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All of you have mentioned so many things about our lady proff. On a very lighter note, i remember, half way through a tutorial, Priyani, shouting out to Jasmin her second in command, ” jassmin, by the way butter is going on sale”. Then she continued with the tutorial, but we were distracted,and laughed about it for awhile. She also wore blouses with long sleeves upto the elbow. Looking back as a woman i am proud of our female teachers at that time. They were few and far in between, remember, Siva Chinnathamby, Mrs Navaratnam,Our pathology teacher fondly called Amma.Stella de silva Etc.
Rajes
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http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=50075
Link about Stella in the news paper
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Thanks Sam for posting this letter from a grateful parent. I am sure her views are shared by many hundreds and thousands of srilankans who benefited from Dr Stella’s services. Dr Stella de Silva and Dr Mirando are two of the most honourable paediatricians I had come across in Srilanka and they did not make any distinction between private & public patients.
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A stellar paediatrician Stella
Fortunate to study paediatrics in an era of a dedicated physician
No nonsense upright lady with excellent skills in communication
She was a dedicated clinician with her patients’ welfare at heart
An oasis of knowledge a blessing as she named her ‘little friends’
Ariya
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