Vinya is the President of Sarvodaya, and a lecturer in Community Medicine at the University of Sri Jayawardenepura. The Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement is a self-governance movement that conducts comprehensive development and conflict-resolution programs in villages across Sri Lanka. The organization estimates that 11 million citizens are individual beneficiaries of one of its programs.

He was the Chairman of the Deshodaya Development Finance Company (Ltd), the micro-finance and enterprise development arm of Sarvodaya. Vinya is also the founder of the Sarvodaya Institute of Higher Learning. He was the President of the College of Community Physicians of Sri Lanka.

Vinya has an M.D. from De La Salle University, an M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins University, and an M.S. & M.D. in Community Medicine from the University of Colombo.