Message of the President
I am humbled and honoured to take up this responsibility for the coming year to lead this esteemed organisation, Sri Lankan Association of Geriatric Medicine. I am truly grateful for being elected as the president and entrusting me and my council with this responsibility for the year 2025/2026. We are dedicated to carry on the great work started by the previous presidents and their excellent teams.
SLAGM has grown from strength to strength due to the dedication of many professionals who worked tirelessly to establish this organization. I was fortunate to join as a founder member in 2014 and had the privilege of serving in 6 councils and was the secretary in 2018. I believe the experiences we have gained throughout the years will strengthen our journey into the future .
We are excited to introduce the theme for this year “Integrating geriatric care: Advancing through collaboration, innovation and research”,
I believe this theme would set a strong foundation to the year ahead of us. We would like to work towards improving geriatric care by working together, thinking creatively, and focusing on evidence. Integrating Geriatric Care is appropriate to the current context of growing population of older adults in our country specially with the challenges imposed on the existing health care system. Strengthening existing collaborations with the national and international professional organisations, building new collaborations with all stake holders including non-governmental organisations and community will be way forward to integrate geriatric care.
SLAGM has always played a pioneering role in shaping the geriatric medicine in Sri Lanka and we hope to further strengthen our commitment to uplifting geriatric care by focusing on multi sector collaborations. We will continue educate not only the health care professionals but also the public through community engagement projects.
Similar to other branches of medical sub specialities, Geriatric medicine has evolved globally through research and novel innovations in care delivery, patient monitoring and integration of artificial intelligence into health care, thus itās important to integrate innovative approaches in geriatric care into Sri Lankan health care system as well. We hope to encourage young trainees to explore innovative approaches in geriatric care and I believe the Founderās Day senior registrar competition will be a good forum to bring out young talent this year.
Research has always been a top priority of the SLAGM and we hope to continue current programs and promote and support research in geriatric medicine in Sri Lanka. We hope to conduct research methodology workshops to enhance knowledge in our trainees this year. Empowering the future generation of professionals to carry out impactful research through strengthening multinational and multi sector collaboration will be an integral part of our plan this year. I believe the Sri Lanka Journal of Geriatrics and Gerontology which we are hoping to launch this year would be a great platform to disseminate research.
As your president I pledge to lead this esteemed organization with humility and courage to achieve our shared goals and I invite all of you to join hands with us for working towards providing better care for older adults.
We sincerely hope, together we can grow stronger as the pioneering association for geriatric medicine in our country. Thank you
Dr Chamila Dalpatadu
President,Ā SriĀ Lankan Association of Geriatric Medicine