Dinesh PalipanaOAM (born 1984) is an Australian doctor, lawyer, scientist and disability advocate. He is the first
quadriplegic medical intern in
Queensland, Australia.[2][3][4][5] He is the second person with quadriplegia to graduate as a doctor in Australia and the first with spinal cord injury.[6]
Palipana has been an advocate for medical students with disabilities in Australia, where significant barriers existed.[7][8]
Career
Dinesh Palipana obtained a degree in law from the
Queensland University of Technology.[9] 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[10] and was featured in the Griffith University video Dinesh Palipana is remarkable.[11] He completed a medical clerkship at
Harvard Medical School.[12] Palipana holds the title of lecturer at Griffith University.[13] Dinesh was admitted as a lawyer in September, 2020.[14]
Following a spinal cord injury, Palipana found adapted ways to be trained as a quadriplegic doctor in partnership with Griffith University and the
Gold Coast University Hospital.[15] This was a previously unaccomplished feat in Queensland. He has consequently openly advocated for training medical students with disabilities in Australia.[16]
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.[17][18] At one point, he was the only Queensland medical graduate without an employment offer for the year 2016 despite testaments to his ability.[19]
He was eventually employed by the Gold Coast University Hospital to become Queensland's first quadriplegic intern.[20] He has worked in the emergency department[21] at the hospital, the second busiest department in Australia in 2017.[22][23] He was nominated for an Intern of the Year award at the Gold Coast University Hospital in 2017.[24]
With an interest in radiology,[25] he is a contributor on Radiopaedia, a radiology education portal designed for medical professionals.[26]
During medical school, Palipana was involved in a car accident causing a spinal cord injury and quadriplegia.[29][30] He was 25 years old at the time. The 2010 motor vehicle accident occurred on
Brisbane's
Gateway Motorway.[31] A physician attending the accident scene with emergency services had taught Palipana during medical school.[32] During his recuperation, Palipana experienced complications that included sepsis and pleural effusion.[33]
While recuperating from his injury, Palipana spent some time in Sri Lanka.[37] During that time, he was noted for raising awareness[38] and funding[39] for spinal cord injury in the country. In 2013, he gifted a stock of medical supplies for spinal cord injury to the then Minister of Health[40]Maithripala Sirisena.[41] Palipana sits on the council of the Sri Lanka Spinal Cord Network.[42]
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.[43] The guidelines can potentially be used exclude medical students with similar conditions to Palipana. By using his story as an example,[44] Palipana has been a vocal advocate for taking an inclusive approach to medical education in the country instead.[45][46][47] Palipana has been using his story to demonstrate ways in which doctors,[48][49][50] and the wider population,[51][52][53][54] can work effectively with disabilities. In 2018, he was a keynote speaker at Stanford Medicine X at the
Stanford University[55][56] and
TEDxBrisbane[57] on the topic. Through various capacities, he has been an advocate for inclusive employment generally.[58][59]
He is a founding member of Doctors with Disabilities Australia, an advocacy group for physicians with disabilities.[60][61] Through Doctors with Disabilities Australia, Palipana supported some Indian peers in an Indian High Court case during 2019.[62] The case involved a challenge of the
Medical Council of India's decisions around medical education and disabilities.[63]
Palipana is a member of the Ambassador Council at the Hopkins Centre, a centre for research in rehabilitation and resilience.[64][65] He has been a member of the
Australian Medical Association Queensland's Council of Doctors in Training since 2017.[66] Since gaining employment at the Gold Coast University Hospital, Palipana has promoted inclusion within the organisation.[67][68]
He became an ambassador for Physical Disability Australia in 2020.[69] In 2021, he became an ambassador to the IncludeAbility project of the
Australian Human Rights Commission.[70]
During the
COVID-19 pandemic, Palipana advocated for the interests of people with disabilities,[71][72] particularly in healthcare.[73][74] Palipana appeared on ABC's
Q&A to speak about the issue.[75] He spoke at the 2020 Disability Royal Commission on the topic.[76][77]
Research
Palipana has interests in spinal cord injury research.[78][79][80][81][82] He was awarded $2 million in 2019 to pursue research in thought-controlled rehabilitation.[83] He attributes this passion to his own injury. Palipana is a member of the Perry Cross Spinal Research Foundation's scientific committee.[84]
Palipana's interest includes non-invasive interventions to promote functional improvement in spinal cord injury.[85][86] Some of these interventions have involved electroencephalography (EEG) and electrical stimulation,[87] which was highlighted in Griffith University's Be Remarkable media campaign.[88] He has been encouraged by a mentor at Harvard University, where he was one of the first visiting medical students of this nature.[89] The project received $2 million Australian in 2019 from the Queensland Government.[90]
Palipana has published articles on disability, COVID-19 and medicine.[91]
Personal life
Palipana was born in
Kandy,
Sri Lanka to Chithrani and Sanath Palipana. He grew up in
Byron Bay and
Brisbane, Australia.[92] Palipana attributes much of his success to the support of his mother.[93][94][95]
Upon a helm with a wreath Agent and Sable a demi lion Argent gorged with chain Or pendent therefrom a rose Gules barbed Vert charged with a Maltese cross Argent and holding with the dexter paw a Rod of Aesculapius in bend sinister Sable the serpent Argent.
Escutcheon
Per bend bevilled Sable and Argent issuant in chief and on the sinister a phoenix Argent enflamed Proper.