Dr Kremlin Wickramasinghe

Dr Kremlin Wickramasinghe is Director of the Division of Prevention and Health Promotion at WHO/Europe. The Division leads WHO/Europe’s work on noncommunicable diseases, health promotion, environmental health, behavioural and cultural insights, and quality of care.

A medical doctor from Sri Lanka with postgraduate education in public health in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Dr Wickramasinghe has extensive experience in noncommunicable disease prevention, health promotion and public health policy.

Dr Wickramasinghe joined WHO/Europe in 2017 and has since served in a range of technical and leadership roles. Before his appointment as Director, he was Regional Adviser for Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity.

He also served as Acting Head of the WHO European Office for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases. In this role, he provided strategic, managerial and technical leadership for a multidisciplinary programme addressing the major noncommunicable diseases and their risk factors.

Before joining WHO, Dr Wickramasinghe worked in research and academia at the University of Oxford, focusing on the epidemiology and prevention of cardiovascular diseases. He also served as Co-Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Population Approaches for Noncommunicable Disease Prevention.

Dr Wickramasinghe holds a medical degree from the University of Colombo, and a Master of Science in Global Health Science and Doctor of Philosophy in Public Health from the University of Oxford. He is married and has 2 sons.