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][9]
Career
Dinesh Palipana obtained a degree in law from the Queensland University of Technology.[10] 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[11] and was featured in the Griffith University video Dinesh Palipana is remarkable.[12] He completed a medical clerkship at Harvard Medical School.[13] Palipana holds the title of lecturer at Griffith University.[14] Dinesh was admitted as a lawyer in September, 2020.[15]
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.[16] This was a previously unaccomplished feat in Queensland. He has consequently openly advocated for training medical students with disabilities in Australia.[17]
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.[18][19] At one point, he was the only Queensland medical graduate without an employment offer for the year 2016 despite testaments to his ability.[20]
He was eventually employed by the Gold Coast University Hospital to become Queensland's first quadriplegic intern.[21] He has worked in the emergency department[22] at the hospital, the second busiest department in Australia in 2017.[23][24] He was nominated for an Intern of the Year award at the Gold Coast University Hospital in 2017.[25]
With an interest in radiology,[26] he is a contributor on Radiopaedia, a radiology education portal designed for medical professionals.[27]
During medical school, Palipana was involved in a car accident causing a spinal cord injury and quadriplegia.[31][32] He was 25 years old at the time. The 2010 motor vehicle accident occurred on Brisbane's Gateway Motorway.[33] A physician attending the accident scene with emergency services had taught Palipana during medical school.[34] During his recuperation, Palipana experienced complications that included sepsis and pleural effusion.[35]
While recuperating from his injury, Palipana spent some time in Sri Lanka.[39] During that time, he was noted for raising awareness[40] and funding[41] 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[42]Maithripala Sirisena.[43] Palipana sits on the council of the Sri Lanka Spinal Cord Network.[44]
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.[45] The guidelines can potentially be used exclude medical students with similar conditions to Palipana. By using his story as an example,[46] Palipana has been a vocal advocate for taking an inclusive approach to medical education in the country instead.[47][48][49] Palipana has been using his story to demonstrate ways in which doctors,[50][51][52] and the wider population,[53][54][55][56] can work effectively with disabilities. In 2018, he was a keynote speaker at Stanford Medicine X at the Stanford University[57][58] and TEDxBrisbane[59] on the topic. Through various capacities, he has been an advocate for inclusive employment generally.[60][61]
He is a founding member of Doctors with Disabilities Australia, an advocacy group for physicians with disabilities.[62][63] Through Doctors with Disabilities Australia, Palipana supported some Indian peers in an Indian High Court case during 2019.[64] The case involved a challenge of the Medical Council of India's decisions around medical education and disabilities.[65]
Palipana is a member of the Ambassador Council at the Hopkins Centre, a centre for research in rehabilitation and resilience.[66][67] He has been a member of the Australian Medical Association Queensland's Council of Doctors in Training since 2017.[68] Palipana has worked with the Australian Medical Association to promote inclusion in the profession.[69] Since gaining employment at the Gold Coast University Hospital, Palipana has promoted inclusion within the organisation.[70][71]
He became an ambassador for Physical Disability Australia in 2020.[72] In 2021, he became an ambassador to the IncludeAbility project of the Australian Human Rights Commission.[73]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Palipana advocated for the interests of people with disabilities,[74][75] particularly in healthcare.[76][77] Palipana appeared on ABC's Q&A to speak about the issue.[78] He spoke at the 2020 Disability Royal Commission on the topic.[79][80]
Palipana was involved in advocating for changes to a spinal injuries unit in Queensland.[81][82]
Research
Dr Dinesh Palipana OAM being photographed at Griffith University's Advanced Design and Prototyping Technologies Institute, where he co-leads the innovative Biospine project with Dr Claudio Pizzolato.
Palipana has interests in spinal cord injury research.[83][84][85][86][87] He was awarded $2 million in 2019 to pursue research in thought-controlled rehabilitation.[88] The study was featured on The Project.[89] The work received a further $3.8 million in 2023.[90] He attributes this passion to his own injury. Palipana is a member of the Perry Cross Spinal Research Foundation's scientific committee.[91]
Palipana's interest includes non-invasive interventions to promote functional improvement in spinal cord injury.[92][93] Some of these interventions have involved electroencephalography (EEG) and electrical stimulation,[94] which was highlighted in Griffith University's Be Remarkable media campaign.[95] He has been encouraged by a mentor at Harvard University, where he was one of the first visiting medical students of this nature.[96] The project received $2 million Australian in 2019 from the Queensland Government.[97]
Palipana has published articles on disability, COVID-19 and medicine.[98]
Personal life
Palipana was born in Kandy, Sri Lanka to Chithrani and Sanath Palipana. He grew up in Byron Bay and Brisbane, Australia.[99] Palipana attributes much of his success to the support of his mother.[100][101][102]
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.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
