It is a great privilege and honor to be the 4th president of the college of chemical pathologists of Sri Lanka for 2018-19 year. I thank all members in entrusting me with this immense responsibility and previous office bearers who have built the college up to what it is today. The process of analyzing chemical substances in bodily fluids dates back to 19th century and has progressed to what it is today. The results of such testing help in nearly 60% of clinical decisions taken day to day as many illnesses are reflected as a disturbance in the body's chemistry.

Chemical pathology is the branch in medicine responsible for delivering accurate clinical biochemistry test reports to diagnose diseases and manage patients. Chemical pathology encompasses management of pre-analytical, analytical and post analytical phases, institution of new technologies, process development, clinical audit, research, training, understanding of biochemical basis of disease and clinical interpretation of biochemistry test results. The responsibility of the college of chemical pathologists is to uncover these multiple facets to the rest of the medical communities and the public.

We have several initiatives lined up for the coming year.
We have identified the need to plan for the future and train our budding chemical pathologists. We hope to do so by hosting two day academic sessions in March, 2019 steered by renowned international chemical pathologists and a series of study days throughout the year done by chemical pathologists here. Furthermore, we recognize the need for chemical pathologists to be able to run their laboratories efficiently. Thus, we plan to introduce a novel concept to educate our pathologists on the nature of the day to day running and management of their laboratories by hosting a two day workshop on laboratory management. We know that training shall not be limited only to our own trainees but medical laboratory technologists too. We intend to have a series of workshops in Colombo followed by regions for them as well.

We hope to maintain a consistent rapport with ministry officials in terms of development of laboratory policies, guidelines and re-organization of analytical services throughout the country. Furthermore we hope to facilitate embracement of advanced technologies and new testing platforms.

We look forward to a productive year.

Dr. Gaya Katulanda

President
College of Chemical Pathologists of Sri Lanka