Overview
Background
Hemamali Samaratunga MBBS (Hons) LRCP (London) MRCS (UK) FRCPA, FRCPath
- Specialist Anatomical Pathologist, Managing Director, Aquesta Specialised Uropathology
- Full Professor, University of Queensland Faculty of Medicine
- Visiting Medical Officer, Greenslopes Private Hospital
Hemamali graduated with honours from the University of Sri Lanka, Colombo Medical School and completed Pathology specialty training in Queensland. She held a number of consultant posts in both hospital and private practice. In 2008 she established Aquesta Uropathology which now provides diagnostic uropathology services to the majority of urologists in Queensland and Northern New South Wales. In addition to this she maintains a large second opinion consultation practice with requests obtained from throughout Australia and from overseas.
She is active in Genitourinary Pathology research with collaborators in Australia, USA, Canada, Karolinska Institute in Sweden and the Wellington School of Medicine in New Zealand. She held the position of Secretary of the International Society of Urological Pathology from 2015 to 2019.
She was a contributor to the 2004, 2015 and 2022 World Health Organization (WHO) books on Classification of Tumours: Pathology and Genetics of Tumours of the Urinary and Male Reproductive System. She participated in the 2015 revision of the WHO Tumour Classification in Zurich, Switzerland (4th edition) as member, Prostate Tumour Panel. She was a representative of the Expert Groups formulating structured reporting protocols for the Royal College Pathologists of Australasia on kidney, testis and prostate cancer and is currently chairperson of the structured reporting protocols for Genitourinary cancer. She is also currently the Convener for the RCPA Uropathology Quality Assurance Program.
Qualifications
MBBS (HONS) LRCP (London) MRCS (UK) FRCPA FRCPath
Current UQ Appointments
Academic Title-Professor
Non-UQ Appointments
2008 - current: Specialist Anatomical Pathologist & Managing Director, Aquesta Specialized Uropathology
2015 - Current: Visiting Medical Officer, Greenslopes Private Hospital
2003 - 2021: Visiting Medical Officer, Princess Alexandra Hospital
June 2001 - Oct 2008: Specialist Anatomical Pathologist, Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology, Brisbane
1993 - 1997: Specialist Anatomical Pathologist, Royal Brisbane Hospital
1998 - 2001: Senior Anatomical Pathologist, North Brisbane Hospitals Board
Research Interests
- Granular tumour necrosis
- Diagnosis of limited adenocarcinoma on prostate needle biopsy
- Ductal adenocarcinoma of prostate
- Mucinous adenocarcinoma of prostate
- Radical prostatectomy handling and reporting
- Micropapillary urothelial cancer
- Mimics of bladder cancer
Awards and other Esteem Indicators
2017 Admitted to Fellowship of the Royal College of Pathologists, London (FRC Path) for sustained excellence in published works
2022 Awarded the Grawitz Medal of the International Society of Urological Pathology for distinguished service to the discipline of Urological Pathology
2023 Author of the publication Percentage grade 4 tumour predicts outcome for prostate adenocarcinoma in needle biopsies from patients with advanced disease: Ten year data from the TROG 03.04 RADAR Trial. Pathology 54: 49- 54, awarded the prize of
Article of the Year by the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia.
2024 Distinguished Fellowship Award of the Royal College Pathologists of Australasia
For distinguished service to the discipline of Urological Pathology
Keywords
Pathology, Genitourinary cancer, Prostate, Kidney, Urinary tract, Testis, Penis
Availability
- Professor Hemamali Samaratunga is:
- Available for supervision
Fields of research
Research impacts
She has over 320 scientific publications and has a Google Scholar H-index of 56 with 18150 citations. To date she has authored or co-authored 28 books, 21 book chapters and 274 peer-reviewed publications. Apart from her primary research activities Professor Samaratunga actively collaborates with other research groups and is a regular contributor - often as primary or senior author to international research consortia. One notable contribution has been her involvement in the development of artificial intelligence programs for the reporting of prostate cancer. In collaborative studies involving colleagues from the Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand and the United States she was chosen to be one of three expert pathologists to review all cases, thus setting the gold standard for the diagnosis and grading of prostate cancer. These studies have been published in highly prestigious journals as noted in her CV. Importantly in comparative studies, the AI program informed by the findings of group of three pathologists that included Professor Samaratunga, outperformed all other AI programs.
Works
Search Professor Hemamali Samaratunga’s works on UQ eSpace
2023
Journal Article
International opinions on grading of urothelial carcinoma: a survey among European Association of Urology and International Society of Urological Pathology members
Beijert, Irene J., Cheng, Liang, Liedberg, Fredrik, Plass, Karin, Williamson, Sean R., Gontero, Paolo, Ribal, Maria J., Babjuk, Marko, Black, Peter C., Kamat, Ashish M., Algaba, Ferran, Berman, David M., Hartmann, Arndt, Masson-Lecomte, Alexandra, Rouprêt, Morgan, Lopez-Beltran, Antonio, Samaratunga, Hemamali, Shariat, Shahrokh F., Mostafid, A. Hugh, Varma, Murali, Shen, Steven, Burger, Maximilian, Tsuzuki, Toyonori, Palou, Joan, Compérat, Eva M., Sylvester, Richard J., van der Kwast, Theo H., van Rhijn, Bas W.G. and Downes, Michelle R. (2023). International opinions on grading of urothelial carcinoma: a survey among European Association of Urology and International Society of Urological Pathology members. European Urology Open Science, 52, 154-165. doi: 10.1016/j.euros.2023.03.019
2023
Journal Article
Interobserver reproducibility of cribriform cancer in prostate needle biopsies and validation of International Society of Urological Pathology criteria
Egevad, Lars, Delahunt, Brett, Iczkowski, Kenneth A., van der Kwast, Theo, van Leenders, Geert J. L. H., Leite, Katia R. M., Pan, Chin‐Chen, Samaratunga, Hemamali, Tsuzuki, Toyonori, Mulliqi, Nita, Ji, Xiaoyi, Olsson, Henrik, Valkonen, Masi, Ruusuvuori, Pekka, Eklund, Martin and Kartasalo, Kimmo (2023). Interobserver reproducibility of cribriform cancer in prostate needle biopsies and validation of International Society of Urological Pathology criteria. Histopathology, 82 (6), 837-845. doi: 10.1111/his.14867
2023
Journal Article
Late recurrence of renal solitary fibrous tumour in the contralateral kidney
Samaratunga, Hemamali, Gianduzzo, Tony, Perry-Keene, Joanna, Egevad, Lars and Delahunt, Brett (2023). Late recurrence of renal solitary fibrous tumour in the contralateral kidney. Pathology, 55 (3), 419-422. doi: 10.1016/j.pathol.2022.07.015
2023
Journal Article
Aberrant protein expression of Appl1, Sortilin and Syndecan-1 during the biological progression of prostate cancer
Martini, Carmela, Logan, Jessica M., Sorvina, Alexandra, Gordon, Colin, Beck, Andrew R., Ung, Ben S-Y., Caruso, Maria C., Moore, Courtney, Hocking, Ashleigh, Johnson, Ian R.D., Li, Ka Lok, Karageorgos, Litsa, Hopkins, Ashley M., Esterman, Adrian J., Huzzell, Chelsea, Brooks, Robert D., Lazniewska, Joanna, Hickey, Shane M., Bader, Christie, Parkinson-Lawrence, Emma, Weigert, Roberto, Sorich, Michael J., Tewari, Prerna, Martin, Cara, O’Toole, Sharon, Bates, Mark, Ward, Mark, Mohammed, Bashir, Keegan, Helen ... Brooks, Douglas A. (2023). Aberrant protein expression of Appl1, Sortilin and Syndecan-1 during the biological progression of prostate cancer. Pathology, 55 (1), 40-51. doi: 10.1016/j.pathol.2022.08.001
2022
Journal Article
Estimating diagnostic uncertainty in artificial intelligence assisted pathology using conformal prediction
Olsson, Henrik, Kartasalo, Kimmo, Mulliqi, Nita, Capuccini, Marco, Ruusuvuori, Pekka, Samaratunga, Hemamali, Delahunt, Brett, Lindskog, Cecilia, Janssen, Emiel A M, Blilie, Anders, Egevad, Lars, Spjuth, Ola and Eklund, Martin (2022). Estimating diagnostic uncertainty in artificial intelligence assisted pathology using conformal prediction. Nature Communications, 13 (1) 7761, 1-10. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-34945-8
2022
Journal Article
LOT and HOT … or not. The proliferation of clinically insignificant and poorly characterised types of renal neoplasia
Samaratunga, Hemamali, Egevad, Lars, Thunders, Michelle, Iczskowski, Kenneth A., van der Kwast, Theodorus, Kristiansen, Glen, Pan, Chin-Chen, Leite, Katia R.M., Evans, Andrew, Clouston, David, Kenwright, Diane N., Bethwaite, Peter B., Malone, Greg, Wood, Simon, Yaxley, John W. and Delahunt, Brett (2022). LOT and HOT … or not. The proliferation of clinically insignificant and poorly characterised types of renal neoplasia. Pathology, 54 (7), 842-847. doi: 10.1016/j.pathol.2022.09.002
2022
Journal Article
Use of the ISUP e-learning module improves interrater reliability in prostate cancer grading
Flach, Rachel N., Egevad, Lars, Eklund, Martin, van der Kwast, Theodorus H., Delahunt, Brett, Samaratunga, Hemamali, Suelmann, Britt B. M., Willemse, Peter-Paul M., Meijer, Richard P. and van Diest, Paul J. (2022). Use of the ISUP e-learning module improves interrater reliability in prostate cancer grading. Journal of Clinical Pathology, 77 (1) 208506, 22-26. doi: 10.1136/jcp-2022-208506
2022
Journal Article
Low‐Grade Prostate Cancer Should Still be Labeled Cancer
Iczkowski, Kenneth A., Molina, Mariel, Egevad, Lars, Bostwick, David G., van Leenders, Geert J.L.H., La Rosa, Francisco G., van der Kwast, Theodorus, Berney, Daniel M., Evans, Andrew J., Wheeler, Thomas M., Leite, Katia R.M., Samaratunga, Hemamali, Srigley, John, Varma, Murali, Tsuzuki, Toyonori, Lucia, M. Scott, Crawford, E. David, Harris, Richard G., Stricker, Philip, Lawrentschuk, Nathan, Woo, Henry H., Fleshner, Neil E., Shore, Neal D., Yaxley, John, Bratt, Ola, Wiklund, Peter, Roberts, Matthew, Cheng, Liang and Delahunt, Brett (2022). Low‐Grade Prostate Cancer Should Still be Labeled Cancer. BJU International, 130 (6), 741-743. doi: 10.1111/bju.15886
2022
Journal Article
In Reply: Intraductal Carcinoma of the Prostate and Nuclear Size
Samaratunga, Hemamali, Delahunt, Brett, Yaxley, John W., Johannsen, Shulammite and Egevad, Lars (2022). In Reply: Intraductal Carcinoma of the Prostate and Nuclear Size. American Journal of Surgical Pathology, 46 (9), 1315-1317. doi: 10.1097/PAS.0000000000001916
2022
Journal Article
Two-dimensional correlated spectroscopy distinguishes clear cell renal cell carcinoma from other kidney neoplasms and non-cancer kidney
Del Vecchio, Sharon J., Urquhart, Aaron J., Dong, Xin, Ellis, Robert J., Ng, Keng Lim, Samaratunga, Hemamali, Gustafson, Sonja, Galloway, Graham J., Gobe, Glenda C., Wood, Simon and Mountford, Carolyn E. (2022). Two-dimensional correlated spectroscopy distinguishes clear cell renal cell carcinoma from other kidney neoplasms and non-cancer kidney. Translational Andrology and Urology, 11 (7), 929-942. doi: 10.21037/tau-21-1082
2022
Journal Article
Re: Valentin H. Meissner, Isabel Rauscher, Kristina Schwamborn, et al. Radical Prostatectomy Without Prior Biopsy Following Multiparametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Prostate-specific Membrane Antigen Positron Emission Tomography. Eur Urol. In press. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eururo.2021.11.019
Samaratunga, Hemamali, Delahunt, Brett and Egevad, Lars (2022). Re: Valentin H. Meissner, Isabel Rauscher, Kristina Schwamborn, et al. Radical Prostatectomy Without Prior Biopsy Following Multiparametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Prostate-specific Membrane Antigen Positron Emission Tomography. Eur Urol. In press. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eururo.2021.11.019. European Urology, 82 (1), e15-e16. doi: 10.1016/j.eururo.2022.03.032
2022
Journal Article
Prognostic significance of percentage Gleason grade 5 prostatic adenocarcinoma in needle biopsies from patients treated by radical prostatectomy
Yaxley, William, Delahunt, Brett, Yaxley, John, Thunders, Michelle C., Kenwright, Diane N., Egevad, Lars and Samaratunga, Hemamali (2022). Prognostic significance of percentage Gleason grade 5 prostatic adenocarcinoma in needle biopsies from patients treated by radical prostatectomy. Pathology, 54 (6), 694-699. doi: 10.1016/j.pathol.2022.02.009
2022
Journal Article
Primary tumour PSMA intensity is an independent prognostic biomarker for biochemical recurrence-free survival following radical prostatectomy
Roberts, Matthew J., Morton, Andrew, Papa, Nathan, Franklin, Anthony, Raveenthiran, Sheliyan, Yaxley, William J., Coughlin, Geoffrey, Gianduzzo, Troy, Kua, Boon, McEwan, Louise, Wong, David, Delahunt, Brett, Egevad, Lars, Samaratunga, Hemamali, Brown, Nicholas, Parkinson, Robert, Emmett, Louise and Yaxley, John W. (2022). Primary tumour PSMA intensity is an independent prognostic biomarker for biochemical recurrence-free survival following radical prostatectomy. European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, 49 (9), 3289-3294. doi: 10.1007/s00259-022-05756-2
2022
Journal Article
International Society of Urological Pathology expert opinion on grading of urothelial carcinoma
van der Kwast, Theo, Liedberg, Fredrik, Black, Peter C., Kamat, Ashish, van Rhijn, Bas W. G., Algaba, Ferran, Berman, David M., Hartmann, Arndt, Lopez-Beltran, Antonio, Samaratunga, Hemamali, Varma, Murali and Cheng, Liang (2022). International Society of Urological Pathology expert opinion on grading of urothelial carcinoma. European Urology Focus, 8 (2), 438-446. doi: 10.1016/j.euf.2021.03.017
2022
Journal Article
Findings in 1,123 men with preoperative 68Ga-prostate-specific membrane antigen positron emission tomography/computerized tomography and multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging compared to totally embedded radical prostatectomy histopathology: Implications for the diagnosis and management of prostate cancer
Raveenthiran, S., Yaxley, W. J., Franklin, T., Coughlin, G., Roberts, M., Gianduzzo, T., Kua, B., Samaratunga, H., Delahunt, B., Egevad, L., Wong, D., McEwan, L., Brown, N., Parkinson, R., Esler, R. and Yaxley, J. W. (2022). Findings in 1,123 men with preoperative 68Ga-prostate-specific membrane antigen positron emission tomography/computerized tomography and multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging compared to totally embedded radical prostatectomy histopathology: Implications for the diagnosis and management of prostate cancer. Journal of Urology, 207 (3), 573-580. doi: 10.1097/JU.0000000000002293
2022
Journal Article
Ductal and acinar components of mixed prostatic adenocarcinoma frequently have a common clonal origin
Lindh, Claes, Samaratunga, Hemamali, Delahunt, Brett, Bergström, Rebecka, Chellappa, Venkatesh, Yaxley, John, Lindberg, Johan and Egevad, Lars (2022). Ductal and acinar components of mixed prostatic adenocarcinoma frequently have a common clonal origin. The Prostate, 82 (5), 576-583. doi: 10.1002/pros.24304
2022
Journal Article
Artificial intelligence for diagnosis and Gleason grading of prostate cancer: the PANDA challenge
Bulten, Wouter, Kartasalo, Kimmo, Chen, Po-Hsuan Cameron, Ström, Peter, Pinckaers, Hans, Nagpal, Kunal, Cai, Yuannan, Steiner, David F., van Boven, Hester, Vink, Robert, Hulsbergen-van de Kaa, Christina, van der Laak, Jeroen, Amin, Mahul B., Evans, Andrew J., van der Kwast, Theodorus, Allan, Robert, Humphrey, Peter A., Grönberg, Henrik, Samaratunga, Hemamali, Delahunt, Brett, Tsuzuki, Toyonori, Häkkinen, Tomi, Egevad, Lars, Demkin, Maggie, Dane, Sohier, Tan, Fraser, Valkonen, Masi, Corrado, Greg S., Peng, Lily ... Park, Jeonghyuk (2022). Artificial intelligence for diagnosis and Gleason grading of prostate cancer: the PANDA challenge. Nature Medicine, 28 (1), 154-163. doi: 10.1038/s41591-021-01620-2
2022
Journal Article
Detection of perineural invasion in prostate needle biopsies with deep neural networks
Kartasalo, Kimmo, Ström, Peter, Ruusuvuori, Pekka, Samaratunga, Hemamali, Delahunt, Brett, Tsuzuki, Toyonori, Eklund, Martin and Egevad, Lars (2022). Detection of perineural invasion in prostate needle biopsies with deep neural networks. Virchows Archiv, 481 (1), 73-82. doi: 10.1007/s00428-022-03326-3
2021
Journal Article
Percentage grade 4 tumour predicts outcome for prostate adenocarcinoma in needle biopsies from patients with advanced disease: 10-year data from the TROG 03.04 RADAR trial
Delahunt, B., Steigler, A., Atkinson, C., Christie, D., Duchesne, G., Egevad, L., Joseph, D., Kenwright, D.N., Matthews, J., Murray, J.D., Oldmeadow, C., Samaratunga, H., Spry, N.A., Thunders, M.C., Hondermarck, H. and Denham, J.W. (2021). Percentage grade 4 tumour predicts outcome for prostate adenocarcinoma in needle biopsies from patients with advanced disease: 10-year data from the TROG 03.04 RADAR trial. Pathology, 54 (1), 49-54. doi: 10.1016/j.pathol.2021.11.004
2021
Journal Article
Lichen sclerosus presenting as an isolated bulbar urethral stricture
Attia, Arsany, Morton, Andrew, Raveenthiran, Sheliyan, Samaratunga, Hemamali and Desai, Devang (2021). Lichen sclerosus presenting as an isolated bulbar urethral stricture. Urology Case Reports, 39 101794, 101794. doi: 10.1016/j.eucr.2021.101794
Supervision
Availability
- Professor Hemamali Samaratunga is:
- Available for supervision
Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.
Supervision history
Completed supervision
-
2020
Doctor Philosophy
Exploring Resistance of Renal Cell Carcinoma to Sunitinib Therapy
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor David Vesey
-
2019
Doctor Philosophy
Cellular and molecular mechanisms of pancreatitis in atrophy and regeneration
Associate Advisor
Media
Enquiries
For media enquiries about Professor Hemamali Samaratunga's areas of expertise, story ideas and help finding experts, contact our Media team: