Dr Didu (Sandi) Kariyawasam completed her Masters at the University of Cambridge, UK, subsequently graduating from University College London in 2007. She embarked on her training in Paediatric Neurology at John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK, gaining specialist expertise in the management of complex epilepsy (Great Ormond Street Hospital, London), movement disorders (Evelina Children’s Hospital London) and neuroinflammation (John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford). In 2022, Sandi successfully completed a PhD in the investigation of pathways to optimise diagnosis and care for children with Neurogenetic disease.
Sandi is currently a paediatric neurologist at Sydney Children’s Hospital (Randwick), and a conjoint lecturer at the University of New South Wales where she is continuing her PhD research. She combines her role as a Staff Specialist with her clinical research, striving to improve outcomes for children with rare inherited neurological disease.
Sandi is active in the field of clinical trials and is part of the clinical research team providing access to new genetic therapies in the field of childhood onset neurological disease. Her work has been translational in the domain of paediatric neuromuscular disease where she strives to improve health and psychosocial outcomes for affected children and their families.
Sandi's goal is to provide optimal care and informed choice for families, based on best current evidence, taking into account the values and beliefs of the individual. The ethos that underpins her work is maintaining a child- and family-centred focus to improve the health and well-being of her patients.
In her spare time, Sandi can be found running after her son (who has just learned to walk, and who is obsessed with chasing dogs and pigeons!)
