Dinesh Palipana OAM is a doctor, lawyer, disability advocate, and researcher. He became the first medical graduate with quadriplegia in Queensland, then the first graduate doctor with quadriplegia to begin work in the state. He was the second graduating doctor with quadriplegia to start working clinically in Australia.
Dinesh works at the Gold Coast University Hospital and Griffith University. He was the 2021 Queensland Australian of the Year. He was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in 2019. He was the third Australian to receive a Henry Viscardi achievement Award in New York, awarded in 2019.