Dinesh Palipana // Double degrees, defying the odds and Doctors with Disabilities

Today’s guest was actually a yayborhood nomination from one of our most active contributors affectionately known as Dana Saurus or Dana Pham. Dana so generously sent a whole list of suggestions for guests a while back and this is one that has finally come to fruition. She is the founder of Junior Doctor’s Corner and is a doctor herself working to provide much needed support to junior doctors entering the world of medicine and discuss important topics that are often dismissed or taboo. JDC also has its own podcast so make sure to check that out if there are any other young doctors listening in.

Her nomination also hails from the medical world but is not only a doctor, he is one of those rare species who has completed degrees in both medicine AND law – the holy grain combination that very few globally dare to tackle. And if that weren’t enough of a superhuman feat, Dinesh Palipana is also a quadriplegic and disability advocate becoming only the second person with quadriplegia to graduate as a doctor in Australia and the first with a spinal cord injury. Despite a life changing car accident in 2010, Dinesh now works in the Emergency Department of Gold Coast University Hospital and has co-foundedDoctors with Disabilities with two of his colleagues. He tells the story so beautifully himself so I’ll stop there but I hope you find his zest for life and indelible positivity as uplifting as I did.

Ps The audio is a bit dicky at times – the joys of Zoom strike again – so excuse a few spots where it’s a bit muffled.

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