Kolitha Wickramage

Global health & social development expert with 22-years of international experience in health and social, development, policy, project management, evaluation science and applied research with multinational institutions and governments. Extensive experience in providing technical guidance to government leaders, international agencies, academic networks and private sector. I've led Inter-agency projects at national, regional and global levels and managed complex, inter-sectoral health and development programs. A scholar with over 93 peer-reviewed publications at nexus of health, migration, social protection, program review in low-middle income countries. I served as the Global Head of UN Migration Health Division Research and Epidemiology -advancing migration health and development programming through evidence-based policies and practices from 2016 to 2025. I provided technical guidance on advancing policy, data, research, evaluation and evidence generation across 3 key areas: medical examinations for migrants/refugees, technical cooperation on migration health with Governments, and humanitarian health. I have a broad range of international social and health development expertise, including: formulating national/regional policy at inter-ministerial level, managing large scale health programs in complex humanitarian emergencies, health systems strengthening, labour migration and occupational health, health assessment and insurance of migrant workers, undertaking applied research, evaluating health and social development interventions, ONE-health, Malaria elimination, NCD management in LMICs, community mental health, and violence prevention. I received a Presidential award in Sri Lanka for advancing a national migration health policy through an evidence-informed, inter-ministerial, and inter-sectoral process. I worked with WHO on health action in crisis projects: from protracted civil-conflict, natural disasters, to health systems recovery, and served as investigator on multiple multi-country research projects. My book on evidence-based policy and practice that was launched at the UN Global Consultation on Migration Health, is a key reference in the field. I also served as editor on specialist series for journals such as BMJ, Lancet and PLOS Medicine. Dedicated to advancing capacities—particularly in the Global South—I co-founded the world’s largest network of Global Migration Health and Development Scholars in 2016.