Ashani Weeraratna BA, PhD

Weeraratna studies the molecular mechanisms involved in melanoma metastasis with particular emphasis on the Wnt signaling pathway. She is also interested in examining the changes in the tumor microenvironment and how they affect melanoma progression and therapy resistance.

Born in Sri Lanka and raised in Southern Africa, Weeraratna first came to the United States in 1988 to study biology at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. She then earned a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Oncology at the Department of Pharmacology of George Washington University Medical Center. From 1998 to 2000, she was a post-doctoral fellow at The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins Oncology Center, before joining the National Human Genome Research Institute as a staff scientist.