From 2017 onwards, I led a project to design and implement a process to conduct formative peer review of teaching (FPRT) at UNSW. I brought together a team that included academics with diversity across cultural backgrounds, educational experience, contexts of teaching (undergraduate and postgraduate) and gender, with a critical mix of excellence in

My work in Medical Education has a wide ranging impact on the medical education community. 

Leadership at International Level

I serve on the ASPIRE Board of the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE), and as the Chair of the International Collaborations Panel of the AMEE ASPIRE Awards.  

I was invited to design and deliver training programs for medical educators from the Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. I designed and delivered an executive education program for these colleagues, who visited UNSW over two programs of two-weeks each in 2018 and 2019. As part of this program, over 100 academics from SJTU participated in the program over three iterations in 2018-2019.

Since 2016, I have played an increasingly prominent leadership role within the national body for health professional education: the Australian & New Zealand Association for Health Professional Educators (ANZAHPE). 

From 2018 to 2020, I served as the President of ANZAHPE. In this role, I provided strategic leadership to this bi-national association and play a key role in

Fostering the next generation of educational scholars 

I have supervised five PhD students to completion. The work of these students led to tangible contributions to educational scholarship (through the development of educational instruments and through the development of tailored educational solutions to context-specific educational problems). The work also resulted in

My standing within global higher education is evidenced by invitations to conduct conference plenaries, symposia and by invitations to deliver keynote addressed as significant events. A recent example of these activities include:

1. Invitation as Guest of Honour and Keynote speaker at the Launch of the Association of Medical Educators of India - Sept 2023

I led a multidisciplinary team from various institutions across Australia, to publish an ANZAHPE 50th Anniversary paper on the Future of Health Professional Education. I led the team to generate a future-ficussed paper that was firmly grounded in the literature. This paper was published in June 2024 (Balasooriya et al 2024). The paper includes recommendations to shape the future of