Field of Study:
Public Health
Home Institution in the U.S.:
University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Host Institution in Sri Lanka:
University of Ruhuna, Matara
Start Month/Year in Sri Lanka:
November 2023
Duration of Grant:
Eight months
Sasvi Kulasinghe
Sasvi Kulasinghe received her bachelor’s degrees in cell biology and genetics, as well as global public health from the University of Maryland, College Park, in May 2023. After her Fulbright research, she plans to start a medical school at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in August 2024. Sasvi is passionate about addressing health disparities both locally and globally, thereby translating her research into community initiatives. Alongside her academic pursuits, she has worked as an emergency medical technician and also enjoys singing and playing the guitar.
Sasvi’s Fulbright project is evaluating the prevalence of non-adherence to oral diabetes medications among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in chosen public and private outpatient diabetes clinics in Galle, Sri Lanka. The study aims to identify associated demographic and social factors, as well as variations in such non-adherence. Sasvi believes that availability of data in these areas would enable healthcare authorities to focus more attention on the specific causative factors and thereby reduce the healthcare costs associated with diabetes mellitus.
