Samanthi is a currently a Research Officer at IPS with research interests in the areas of economic evaluation, health systems financing and impact assessment of health policies/interventions.   Prior to joining the IPS in 2011, she worked in the Ministry of Health, first as a Research Assistant of the World Health Survey (WHO) and National Commission on Macroeconomics and Health in Sri Lanka (WHO) and, then as a Development Assistant of the Management Development and Planning Unit.  She obtained a BA (Hons.) in Economics with a special module of Health Economics from the University of Colombo and MSc in Health Economics from the Centre for Health Economics, University of Chulalongkorn, Thailand.  Since October 2016, she is a Member of the Sub-Committee on Elders’ Rights” which functions under the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka.