Dr. Dasanayake is Professor of Epidemiology and Health Promotion in the New York University College of Dentistry and School of Nursing. He also holds appointments in the Department of Epidemiology of Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health as an Associate, and in New York University School of Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center as a Member. He is a Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology.

He has been the Director of the Graduate Program in Clinical Research at the New York University College of Dentistry since January 2002 and was also the leader of the oral health concentration in the New York University Global MPH Program. He was the founding Director of the Training and Certification Core and the Associate Director of the Protocol Development Core of the National Institute Dental and Craniofacial Research funded ‘Practitioners Engaged in Applied Research and Learning’ (PEARL) Network, a dental practice-based research network. His other sponsored research includes maternal periodontal disease and preterm and low birth weight delivery, and gestational diabetes; oral cancer; oral health services research; and dental caries. He has authored or co-authored over 65 manuscripts and has presented and/or published over 75 abstracts at national and international meetings.

Dr. Dasanayake has received the William J Guys Award from the Journal of Dental Research (co-author) and Lynn Henley Outstanding Achievement Award for the Best International Graduate Student from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, is a member of Omicron Kappa Upsilon Dental Honor Society, Delta Omega Public Health Honor Society, and the Phi Beta Delta International Honor Society. He is a charter member of the NYU Academy of Distinguished Educators. He is currently on the editorial board of International Journal of Dentistry as well as the Journal of Dental Research. He also serves on the Oral, Dental, and Craniofacial Sciences (ODCS) Study Section at the NIDCR as a standing member. He was a visiting professor at the Faculty of Dental Sciences of the Peradeniya University in Sri Lanka, School of Dentistry in Khon Kaen University, Thailand, and the Department of Oral Medicine in the King’s College School of Dentistry in London.

Native of Sri Lanka, Dr. Dasanayake received his dental degree from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka (1980), and MPH (1988) and PhD (1993) degrees in epidemiology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health, USA.