Professor Saman Warnakulasuriya BDS (Cey), FDSRCS (Eng & Edin) PhD (Glasg)

Professor Warnakulasuriya holds the chair in Oral Medicine & Experimental Oral Pathology at King's College London. He is an honorary consultant and head of the academic unit in Oral Medicine at King's College Hospital, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Hospital Trusts

Professor Warnakulasuriya has published and lectured extensively on the subject of oral cancer and precancer from the levels of basic science to the management. He is an authority on global aspects of risk factors for oral cancer having conducted several field surveys both in Asia and Northern Africa. In Collaboration with the World Health Organization he conducted several innovative studies on screening for oral cancer using the primary health care model. He has contributed to the evaluation of carcinogenic risks of tobacco and areca nut to human populations as a member of the monograph group at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (Lyon, France). He is currently the Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Oral Cancer and Precancer. Professor Warnakulasuriya has acted as a member of the Working Group on Screening for Oral Cancer in the UK and was involved as a member drawing current guidelines for Management of Head and Neck Cancer in the National Health Service of the United Kingdom.

Professor Warnakulasuriya is a member of the Editorial Boards of Oral Oncology and the Journal of Oral Pathology and Medicine.

His current research interests are developing tumour and genetic markers for diagnosis, examining risks for oral cancer in different populations, the delivery of interventional programmes directed at cessation of tobacco and areca nut usage and conducting clinical trials on the management of oral leukoplakia. His recently published research includes a population-based study of oral cancer in young people.