C. G. Uragoda

Who is C. G. Uragoda?

Dr Christopher Gunapala Uragoda MBBS, MD, Hon. DSc, FRCP, FRCP known as Chris Uragoda is a Sri Lankan Physician, Author, Folklorist, Historian and Conservationist

Uragoda was educated at Richmond College, Mahinda College, Ananda College and Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo qualifying Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery and Doctor of Medicine. He trained in the UK becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and working as a Consultant in Respiratory Medicine. In Sri Lanka he was Physician-in-Charge, Central Chest Clinic, Colombo and Physician at Chest Hospital, Welisera. He is a Member of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine of the RCP London, and was a member of the WHO Expert Panel on Tuberculosis.

Uragoda is best known for his work in Occupational Lung disease caused by dust of chilli, tea, kapok, cinnamon, coir, ilmenite, and activated carbon. He is best known for his paper showing for the first time that skipjack was rich in histamine and that isoniazid prevents its destruction, thus increasing skipjack poisoning in patients being treated for tuberculosis.

In addition to books on medicine, he wrote on Wildlife Conservation in Sri Lanka. He was the Joint Editor of the Ceylon Medical Journal, the Journal of the Ceylon College of Physicians and Journal of the National Academy of Sciences. Uragoda co-edited the Sesquicentennial Commemorative Volume of the Royal Asiatc Society of Sri Lanka 1845– 1995. He also wrote Traditions of Sri Lanka, A Selection With a Scientific Background. which explores scientific explanations for Sri Lankan traditional beliefs and customs and a volume compiling works of authors from Sri Lanka between 1795 and 1948