Ranjala Ratnayake, Ph.D.

Ranjala Ratnayake, Ph.D., was appointed a research assistant professor in the department of medicinal chemistry at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy in February 2017 and promoted to research associate professor in 2022. Ratnayake previously served as an assistant scientist in the department since 2014, and completed her postdoctoral training at UF from 2009-11, under the supervision of Hendrik Luesch, Ph.D., a professor and chair of medicinal chemistry and the Debbie and Sylvia DeSantis Chair in Natural Products Drug Discovery and Development. As an experienced researcher in natural product chemistry, analytical techniques and mass spectrometry, as well as chemical library screening, she leads efforts to find new drug therapies and identify new drug cancer treatments at the UF College of Pharmacy’s Center for Natural Products, Drug Discovery and Development, or CNPD3. In 2016, she was awarded a National Cancer Institute Research Specialist Award to develop complex natural products libraries and multidimensional screening platforms to support drug discovery efforts at UF.

In addition to her postdoctoral fellowship at UF, Ratnayake completed an initial postdoctoral training at the National Cancer Institute and the Institute for Molecular Biosciences in Australia. She graduated in 2007 with her doctoral degree in organic chemistry from the University of Queensland in Australia. She earned a master of philosophy and bachelor of science degree from The Open University in her native country of Sri Lanka.

Drug discovery and development & natural product chemistry