Tissa Kappagoda was Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of California, Davis. He qualified in Medicine at the University of Ceylon (1965), moving to England the following year. He held junior hospital appointments in the National Health Service before joining the Cardiovascular Unit in the Department of Physiology at Leeds University. His PhD thesis was on the function of atrial receptors, the subject of a series of papers in The Journal of Physiology and Experimental Physiology as well as in The Society’s publication, Atrial Receptors, (with RJ Linden). He developed a method for measuring oxygen uptake during exercise. Kappagoda left Leeds in 1978 and became Research Professor of Medicine and Director of Cardiac Rehabilitation at the University of Alberta in Canada, where his team worked on aspects of cardiovascular physiology, including pulmonary receptors in heart failure and exercise training in ischaemic heart disease. He was then appointed Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, at the University of California, Davis and Director of the Preventive Cardiology Programs at the University of California Medical Center. Here, his research focused on the role of endothelial cells in regulating vascular tone and the effects of fatty acids and polyphenolic products present in plants in human and animal models. A caring physician, his contribution to cardiovascular science included over 200 peer-reviewed publications.

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