From Code to Clinic: INK Fellow Dr. Nayana Somaratna’s Prescription for Medical Learning

Most people follow one path. INK Fellow Dr. Nayana Somaratna chose two—and built a bridge between them.

As a child growing up in Sri Lanka, he started coding at the age of seven. By 2001, he had won a gold medal at the International Olympiad in Informatics. But alongside a deep love for technology, he was drawn to medicine—a field where human lives were at stake, and knowledge could mean the difference between survival and loss.

So he pursued both.

While studying medicine at the University of Kelaniya, he also completed an IT degree from the University of Colombo. He taught programming, ran an outsourcing company, and kept returning to the same idea: What if medical education were designed like software—efficient, accessible, and built for real-world problem-solving?

Reimagining Medical Education

That insight led Nayana to co-found Medical Joyworks in 2010, releasing its first major success: Prognosis: Your Diagnosis, a mobile app that transforms clinical cases into interactive learning experiences. Within a year, it topped medical app charts in the United States and reached over 500,000 users globally. The app became a tool not only for students but also for practicing clinicians, especially in resource-limited settings. “My goal was to make learning medicine fun without compromising on rigor,” explains Nayana.

Today, as CEO, Nayana continues to push boundaries for Medical Joyworks. Their latest flagship platform, Clinical Odyssey, takes things further—offering over 700 interactive clinical simulations across 500+ diseases. Designed with expert boards and aligned with global clinical guidelines, Clinical Odyssey allows students and professionals alike to sharpen their reasoning skills in a safe, engaging format.

Nayana’s story has resonated far beyond Sri Lanka. In recent years, he’s been featured on global platforms like the Medical Mnemonist podcast, where he shared how gamified learning transforms traditional training, and how storytelling can accelerate memory and critical thinking.

Nayana is also exploring the AI frontier. He has developed a deep learning model for genomics that holds potential to positively impact lives for years to come. In doing so, he has assembled a worldwide team to help lead advances in microbiology.

Named an INK Fellow in 2011, Nayana says, “The INK Fellowship promotes global collaboration. This ethos is very important to me.”

Blending the precision of code with the compassion of care, Dr. Somaratna is redefining how the next generation of clinicians learn and save lives.