Dinesh Palipana

In 2020, Palipana became the team doctor for the Gold Coast Titans Physical Disability Rugby League team.

He became an ambassador for Physical Disability Australia in 2020.

He is a founding member of Doctors with Disabilities Australia, an advocacy group for physicians with disabilities. Through Doctors with Disabilities Australia, Palipana supported some Indian peers in an Indian High Court case during 2019. The case involved a challenge of the Medical Council of India's decisions around medical education and disabilities.

Palipana has interests in spinal cord injury research. He was awarded $2 million in 2019 to pursue research in thought-controlled rehabilitation. He attributes this passion to his own injury. Palipana is a member of the Perry Cross Spinal Research Foundation's scientific committee.

Palipana's interest includes non-invasive interventions to promote functional improvement in spinal cord injury. Some of these interventions have involved electroencephalography (EEG) and electrical stimulation, which was highlighted in Griffith University's Be Remarkable media campaign. He has been encouraged by a mentor at Harvard University, where he was one of the first visiting medical students of this nature. The project received $2 million Australian in 2019 from the Queensland Government.

In 2019, Palipana proposed to his now fiancé Rachael Antonie. The couple met while working together in the Gold Coast University Hospital emergency department.

2019: Medal of the Order of Australia for service to medicine

2019: Junior Doctor of the Year at the Gold Coast University Hospital

2019: Third Australian to be awarded the Henry Viscardi Achievement Award

2019: 'Change Making' in National Awards for Disability Leadership

He was eventually employed by the Gold Coast University Hospital to become Queensland's first quadriplegic intern. He has worked in the emergency department at the hospital, the second busiest department in Australia in 2017. He was nominated for an Intern of the Year award at the Gold Coast University Hospital in 2017.

Palipana is a member of the Ambassador Council at the Hopkins Centre, a centre for research in rehabilitation and resilience. He has been a member of the Australian Medical Association Queensland's Council of Doctors in Training since 2017. Since gaining employment at the Gold Coast University Hospital, Palipana has promoted inclusion within the organisation.

Dinesh Palipana obtained a degree in law from the Queensland University of Technology. He then commenced a Doctor of Medicine at the Griffith University, graduating in 2016 as the first quadriplegic medical graduate in the state of Queensland, the second in Australia. He graduated with several awards and was featured in the Griffith University video Dinesh Palipana is remarkable. He completed a medical clerkship at Harvard Medical School. Palipana holds the title of associate lecturer at Griffith University.

Despite spending two years in clinical training as a medical student at the Gold Coast University Hospital, Palipana faced challenges in securing initial employment in his home state of Queensland under Queensland Health. At one point, he was the only Queensland medical graduate without an employment offer for the year 2016 despite testaments to his ability.

In 2015, the Medical Deans of Australia and New Zealand issued a set of guidelines providing Australian medical schools the power to exclude students with a range of disabilities. The guidelines can potentially be used exclude medical students with similar conditions to Palipana. By using his story as an example, Palipana has been a vocal advocate for taking an inclusive approach to medical education in the country instead. Palipana has been using his story to demonstrate ways in which doctors, and the wider population, can work effectively with disabilities. In 2018, he was a keynote speaker at Stanford Medicine X at the Stanford University and TEDxBrisbane on the topic. Through various capacities, he has been an advocate for inclusive employment generally.

While recuperating from his injury, Palipana spent some time in Sri Lanka. During that time, he was noted for raising awareness and funding for spinal cord injury in the country. In 2013, he gifted a stock of medical supplies for spinal cord injury to the now President Maithripala Sirisena. Palipana sits on the council of the Sri Lanka Spinal Cord Network.

During medical school, Palipana was involved in a car accident causing a spinal cord injury and quadriplegia. He was 25 years old at the time. The 2010 motor vehicle accident occurred on Brisbane's Gateway Motorway. A physician attending the accident scene with emergency services had taught Palipana during medical school. During his recuperation, Palipana experienced complications that included sepsis and pleural effusion.

Dinesh Palipana OAM (born 1984) is an Australian doctor, legal professional and disability advocate. He is the first quadriplegic medical intern in Queensland, Australia. He is the second person with quadriplegia to graduate as a doctor in Australia and the first with spinal cord injury.