Gaya read for her BSc Degree at the University of Colombo and then proceeded to the Imperial College, London for postgraduate research studies relating to malaria transmission blocking antibodies, on scholarships awarded by the President’s Fund, Sri Lanka and the Beit Fellowship, UK, and earned her PhD in Parasitology from the University of London, UK. Gaya is an old girl of Visakha Vidyalaya, Colombo.
She is currently serving as a Senior Professor in Zoology and has more than 25 years of experience in university teaching, particularly covering Parasitology and Human Biology modules. Gaya’s expertise and research focus lies mainly within the fields of parasite cell biology and immunology, and molecular systematics. She has served as the Dean of the Faculties of Natural Sciences and the Health Sciences at the Open University of Sri Lanka. She has also worked as a postdoctoral scientist at the National Institute for Medical Research, London on a Commonwealth Fellowship and at the University of Swansea, Wales on an Association of Commonwealth Universities Titular Fellowship.