Professor WM Tilakaratne is a globally recognized expert in the field of Oral Pathology and Medicine with over three decades of local, regional and international experience in academia, encompassing research, teaching and executive level administration. In these positions he has served as a senior administrative executive, and consultant/advisor to various national and international bodies. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Dental Surgery from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, in 1991, immediately followed with specialization, earning a master’s degree (MS Dental Surgery), from the University of Colombo, and a general diploma from the Royal College of Surgeons of England (FDSRCS). Subsequently, in London, UK, he had the unique opportunity for advanced training and specialization in Oral Pathology, which led to DipRCPath, MRCPath and FRCPath from the Royal College of Pathologists, United Kingdom, and thereafter to serve as a consultant in oral pathology for the last three decades. He is the first dental surgeon from Sri Lanka to gain such distinction.  Afterwards, he read for his PhD degree and completed it at the University of Niigata, Japan. Since then, holding various academic positions in the United Kingdom and in Asia, mainly in resource-poor Sri Lanka, he has published over 190 peer reviewed journal-articles that are widely cited, and currently have a h-index of 48. For these accomplishments he was awarded many