Keynote speakers
Dr Dinesh PalipanaDr Dinesh Palipana was born in Kandy, Sri Lanka grew up in Byron Bay and then Brisbane, where he earned a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) before commencing medicine at Griffith University. Dinesh’s rural upbringing was formative to his values, experiencing a tight knit community who are inclusive and warm was foundational to his advocacy roles later in life. While studying medicine, Dinesh experienced a spinal cord injury secondary to a motor vehicle accident. Griffith University and the Gold Coast University Hospital supported him through to his graduation (with several awards) in 2016. He is the second quadriplegic medical graduate in Australia, and the first in Queensland. Dinesh faced challenges transitioning from student to being employed by Queensland Health, however he eventually secured an internship with the Gold Coast University Hospital. He since completed a Emergency Medicine Certificate and undertook a medical clerkship at Harvard Medical School, continues to lecture at Griffith University, and has an interest in radiology and a research interest in spinal cord injury. He is a founding member of Doctors with Disabilities Australia. In 2018, he was a keynote speaker at Stanford Medicine X COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t impacted on his career, in 2020, Dinesh became an ambassador for Physical Disability Australia as well as the team doctor for the Gold Coast Titans Physical Disability Rugby League team. He undertook the Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice and was admitted as a lawyer in September, 2020 and served as a senior advisor to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. In 2021 he received the Queensland Australian of the Year award. |
Associate Professor Matthias WichmannAssociate Professor Wichmann is a General Surgeon in Mount Gambier, South Australia with the Limestone Coast Local Health Network and teaches into Flinders University Medical School and the University of Adelaide. Originally hailing from Munich Germany, as an internationally qualified doctor, AP Wichmann and family chose to settle in Mount Gambier in 2006 because it was an "area of workforce need" halfway between Melbourne and Adelaide, had good schools, and the hospital was closely connected with two universities. He's put down roots and stayed. In 2007 he was awarded Fellowship (FRACS) and in 2018 he was presented with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) Outstanding Service to the Community Award, in recognition of his work. As a rural surgeon with a University appointment he provides medical care, as a pivotal rural specialist, and as an educator and supervisor builds the next generation of rural doctors, while also conducting and regularly publishing research and championing more rural doctors to do the same. Through his research, his reach trickles out to rural Australians more broadly who may also benefit from the practical impacts his research has on health outcomes now and in the future. |
Dr Sarah Van Der WalDr Sarah Van Der Wal is the Director of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Echuca Regional Health and a staff specialist in O&G at Bendigo Health. Sarah is recognised in the Victorian Rural Generalist Program for their successful work training the next generation of Loddon Mallee Rural Generalist O&Gs and being part of the significant growth of Obstetrics at Echuca Regional Health - supporting many families to birth safely close to home. Sarah is also a key doctor in the provision of Surgical Terminations across the Loddon Mallee region. When not at work Sarah enjoys being a complete nerd, reading to their children, playing dungeons and dragons and being gnawed on by their parrot. Sarah is a member of the LGBTQI community and has a passion for diversity in health. At DRIVERS Sarah will reflect on their experience of training in and practising medicine and provide us with some impactful gems. They have recently published Time to make some noise about a quiet revolution (Calvert, Leathersich, Howat & Van Der Wal Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Volume 62, Issue 2), which is worth a look even if you’re in a different field of Medicine. |