Chalinda Weerasinghe
I have always been curious about the world around me, a wonder that my parents fostered. My childhood friends will probably describe me as a wanderer, a seeker who might not conform.
Looking back, my academic and professional trajectories reflect this. I was in law school in my native Sri Lanka, before coming to the US on a Rotary Scholarship. After undergraduate training in a triple major from Shorter University, including mathematics and economics, I obtained a couple of master’s degrees from Georgia Tech in economics and international affairs, and then did two PhDs at UMD College Park, in government and politics, and economics, respectively. In addition to pursuing required coursework in graduate schools, I took courses in numerical analyses, advanced econometrics, and dynamical systems, to name a few advanced topics. Due to personal reasons, I left my doctoral programs unfinished after spending more than 5 years, and became an ultra-runner, followed by being a father and a yoga teacher.
The process of creating and imagining has always been a central feature of my life. I initially educated young minds using this creativity and then started leading teams and architecting systems and solutions for clients. In addition to working as a senior economist in Alaska, I have worked with tech startups in leadership roles, all the while exploring topics and problems using the breadth and depth of my knowledge and experience. I gravitate towards research interests that are deep and dynamic, and I have published on a wide range of topics, from mathematical models of conflict, information dissemination, and computational system design, to public health, ethnic conflict studies and governance.
Entrepreneurially, Healthy has offered me the privilege of working closely with some of my best friends, some whom I have known for over 40 years. I work with these same friends, some of the most talented and original folk that I have met, at Simulated Systems, another start-up that I co-founded alongside David.
Healthy is the culmination of my creative cravings. It is an opportunity for us to birth a new ecosystem for health and wellness, and to spread a new vision, one in which the power of a person to improve themselves and those around them is celebrated, nurtured and rewarded. At Healthy, we wish to inspire a revolution in health and wellness, to unabashedly empower people to help themselves and others, and to marshal technologies and create innovations that facilitate these transformations.
I believe that people generally will better themselves when given the opportunity and resources. Healthy aims to offer these opportunities and resources. Please join us and collaborate, as we set out to create a world we wish to live in!
