Dr Bandula Wijay is a world-renowned inventor and entrepreneur in Biomedical Engineering in Houston, USA. He did his GCE (Advanced Level at the Mahinda College, Galle and BSc in Chemical Engineering at the Jadavpur University in India He carried out his doctoral studies in the same field at the University of Southern California.
In 1984, he started his entrepreneurial career, along with Dr Paolo Angelini of the Texas Heart Institute, and developed the angioplasty balloon catheter system along with the coronary artery perfusion pump system for use in angioplasty. In 1995, he invented the "Nested Loop" vascular stent, used in treating stenotic arteries after balloon angioplasty. He has a large number of patents to his credit and his inventions have benefited millions of people across the globe.
Dr Wijey visited the NSF on 19 December 2023 where he delivered an insightful and thought-provoking talk sharing his long-standing knowledge and experience for the benefit of the university academics and scientific staff of the NSF. It was followed by a highly interactive and exciting discussion.
During his brief visit to Sri Lanka, he was invited by several universities to deliver talks and conduct brain-storming sessions. The University of Ruhuna in recognition of his singular accomplishments in the field of Biomedical Engineering conferred a DSc (h.c) on him at a recently held convocation at the university.