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Dinesh has been PDA’s Ambassador since 2019.
Dinesh was the first quadriplegic medical intern in Queensland. He is a doctor, lawyer, disability advocate and researcher. Whilst in medical school, he was involved in a car accident that resulted in a spinal cord injury. Dinesh was born in Sri Lanka, then moved to Australia at the age of ten during the civil war.
Dinesh has completed a Bachelor of Laws at the Queensland University of Technology, a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice at the College of Law, Emergency Medicine Certificate at the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine, and Doctor of Medicine at Griffith University. He is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors under a Disability Leadership Scholarship.
Dinesh works in the emergency department at the Gold Coast University Hospital. He is a researcher and senior lecturer at the Griffith University and Assistant Professor at Bond University. He is also a researcher in spinal cord injury, co-leading the BioSpine research team.
He is also a doctor with the Gold Coast Titans physical disability rugby team, was a senior advisor to the Disability Royal Commission, is an ambassador to the Human Rights Commission’s Includeability program and a founding member of Doctors with Disabilities Australia.
He is an advisory board member to HealthyLife, a John Monash Scholar, and an independent non-executive director of George Steuart & Co – one of the oldest companies in the world and the oldest in Sri Lanka. Dinesh is also a non-executive director of the Housing Hub, started by the Summer Foundation.
Dinesh was the Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service’s Junior Doctor of the Year in 2018. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2019, was the third Australian to be awarded a Henry Viscardi Achievement Award, and was the 2021 Griffith University Young Alumnus of the Year. He was Queensland Australian of the Year for 2021.
In 2022, Dinesh was listed as number 33 in the Courier Mail’s top 100 power list for Queensland’s most influential in health and wellbeing. His autobiography, “Stronger”, was published by Pan Macmillan in 2022.
