Tarishi Desai
Manager – Treatment & Supportive Care
Tarishi joined the McCabe Centre in 2018, and leads the McCabe Centre’s work on using law to address care and support issues including improving access to cancer care, universal health coverage, cancer and human rights law, legal and social protections for people with cancer and their carers, and the regulation of health service providers and health information. She provides technical legal support to Cancer Council Victoria and Cancer Council Australia policy teams and has led major McCabe Centre and Cancer Council submissions to parliamentary inquiries in Australia seeking to make the law work better for people with cancer, their families and those caring for them.
Prior to joining the McCabe Centre Tarishi practised as a solicitor at Russell Kennedy lawyers, practising in the areas of employment, occupational health and safety, equal opportunity and discrimination, administrative and privacy law. Tarishi was also an active member of the Russell Kennedy Pro Bono Team, providing pro bono legal advice and representation in employment law and refugee and asylum seeker law matters.
Tarishi has a longstanding interest in social justice having interned with the AED Legal Centre, a specialist community legal service supporting people with disability who experience discrimination in the areas of education or employment, and the International Detention Coalition, the world’s leading movement to end immigration detention and volunteering with the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.
Prior to her legal career, Tarishi worked as a clinical researcher at the University of Melbourne’s Department of Medicine.
Tarishi brings an interdisciplinary background in health, international law and human rights to her work. Tarishi has published papers in both medical and legal academic journals and has and has presented work at conferences and forums both in Australia and internationally.
Qualifications:
Bachelor Arts (First Class Honours in Psychology)/Bachelor of Commerce and Juris Doctor (University of Melbourne). Admitted to practice law in Victoria, Australia.
Awards/Achievements:
- 2012-2014 Editorial Board of the Melbourne Journal of International Law
- 2014 Raynes Dickson Memorial Exhibition Award for Equality and Discrimination Law, Melbourne Law School
- 2014 Commendation of Academic Excellence for the Juris Doctor, Melbourne Law School
- 2016 Russell Kennedy Lawyers Pro Bono Award for significant contribution to pro bono and public interest law
- UICC Cancer Advocates Programme Advisory Group (2023-2025)
Publications: