Inaugural Annual Academic Sessions of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna I am very pleased to witness the beginning of Annual academic Sessions of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna and the launching of official journal of the Faculty. This is a significant milestone of the academic front of the Faculty which now nearly 33 years old. 1 hope that this activity will continue in future and grow to bigger dimensions. In order to gain international recognition, Faculty needs to uplift its academic profile and activities of this nature allow academics to showcase their research findings. This year we have selected six completed PhD/Mphil projects and three abstracts to fill the program. This is of course what the organizing committee considered best, given that it is the first event of this nature in the Faculty and we welcome the comments of academic members to improve the content and quality of the future sessions. While thanking those involved in organizing this event I wish well for those contributing to the program. Also hope the audience will enjoy the activities of the day.

Professor Sarath Lekamwasam Chairperson