Alumni and Supporters

After Shavini Fernando was diagnosed with Eisenmenger syndrome, severe pulmonary hypertension, and was given just two years to live 10 years ago in 2015 - she was determined to live in the present and enjoy her life without letting her diagnosis define her.

"It was about keeping that positive mentality, without worrying about what happens tomorrow - just surviving for the day and getting things done for today.”

After experiencing multiple episodes where her heart stopped beating encountering cardiac arrest due to dangerously low oxygen levels, this year’s International Alumni Award winner invented Oxiwear, a Food and Drug Administration-cleared real-time blood oxygen and pulse monitor. This medical device is now being used to help others avoid devastating outcomes like cardiac arrests and strokes.

When Shavini founded her business in 2019, she battled a series of challenges to keep her company afloat during the height of the pandemic – from raising funds to getting FDA clearance and then launching her device out to the market.

"Most things fell into place because I never gave up. For me, it was more like, I'll show you how it's done and I'll prove you wrong.”

Shavini’s background is anything but conventional. Originally from Sri Lanka, with a career as a web and video game designer and an MBA from ECU Sri Lanka behind her, she successfully launched her game-changing medical tool in her new home - the USA.  Where she travelled to receive medical treatment and was subsequently advised not to fly back due to the potentially life-threatening risks of her severe pulmonary hypertension condition.

"Everything happens for a reason. So, when things go wrong, don't think negatively… because something better is coming your way. Just move forward and don't take it to heart.”

Driven almost seems like an understatement when it comes to describing Shavini.   She’s adept at transforming the hard ‘no’s’ she encounters into yeses, walking into meetings and ‘showing how it’s done’ by turning every potential setback into an opportunity.

"From day one, when I got diagnosed, people said, I won't live for two years…When I started Oxiwear, they said I will miserably fail. Then when I was raising funds, they said, I can't raise money because I'm a brown woman and I need to find a co-founder, a male white co-founder. But we have done it all.”

It’s this persistence, a trait Edith Cowan herself would be proud of, that has made all the difference, both to Shavini’s health and her career.

"The reason why I'm still alive today, and why the Oxiwear is still alive today is because of my persistence. You can make things happen because it's your life. You are in control. No one else has control of it.”

What a difference her personal mission has made to the lives of many others living with chronic diseases, Shavini included. Forewarned is forearmed, especially when it comes to preventing devastating outcomes like cardiac arrests and strokes. Shavini recounts how she feels when she hears from the many people whose lives she has positively changed.

"It's a personal mission for me… Chronic disease should not define anyone's life. The messages we have been getting from people on how we have changed their lives. It means a lot; being able to see people who are now enjoying life without letting their chronic disease define their life - going around and doing the things they love.”

As a first-time founder, first-time entrepreneur, and migrant, it’s her drive that has earned Shavini widespread acclaim – including being named as ECU’s 2026 International Alumni winner.