Advisory group chair named Qld Australian of the Year
CheckUP's advisory group chair for Access for All, Dr Dinesh Palipana OAM, has been named Queensland’s Australian of the Year for 2021.
The doctors with disabilities advocate, who was the state's first quadriplegic doctor, was awarded the honour at a special ceremony at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre on Tuesday night. You can watch his acceptance speech now via this link that goes to a Vimeo video: https://bit.ly/3lkVnz8.
Doctor Palipana is a senior resident doctor at Gold Coast University Hospital, and a qualified lawyer. Despite facing numerous barriers, he became the first quadriplegic medical graduate and medical intern in Queensland and has worked with the Australian Medical Association to create first-of-kind national policies for inclusivity in medical education and employment.
The 36-year-old has also contributed significantly to scientific advances in treating spinal cord injury and restoring function to people with paralysis, while his national and global impact has been recognised with numerous awards, including Junior Doctor of the Year and the Order of Australia.
The CheckUP team congratulates Dr Palipana on this well-deserved honour.
To learn more about our Access for All project, visit our project landing page, by clicking here.