Dinesh Palipana is an extraordinary human being. He was the first quadriplegic medical intern in Queensland and is a doctor, lawyer, disability advocate, and researcher. Halfway through medical school, he was involved in a motor vehicle accident that caused a cervical spinal cord injury.

Biography

Dinesh has completed an Advanced Clerkship in Radiology at the Harvard University.

He works in the emergency department at the Gold Coast University Hospital and is a senior lecturer at the Griffith University and adjunct research fellow at the Menzies Health Institute of Queensland.

Dinesh is a researcher in spinal cord injury. He is a doctor for the Gold Coast Titans physical disability rugby team. Dinesh is a senior advisor to the Disability Royal Commission. He is an ambassador to the Human Rights Commission’s Includeability program. He was a 2021 International Day of People with Disability ambassador. He is a founding member of Doctors with Disabilities Australia. He is an advisory board member to HealthyLife.

Dinesh was the Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service’s Junior Doctor of the Year in 2018. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2019. He was the third Australian to be awarded a Henry Viscardi Achievement Award. He was the 2021 Griffith University Young Alumnus of the Year. Dinesh was the Queensland Australian of the Year for 2021. In 2022, Dinesh was listed as number 33 in the Courier Mail’s top 100 power list for Queensland’s most influential in health and wellbeing. His autobiography, Stronger, was published by Pan Macmillan in 2022.

Contact

dinesh@palipana.com

Social Media

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dineshpalipana/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/dinesh.palipana/

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Theme Song: "Broken" by Colin Lillie

This episode of Kintsugi Heroes was made possible with support from the Community Broadcasting Foundation. Find out more at cbf.org.au.