2025–26 winners announced

The people and teams shortlisted across six categories.

Finalists, their nominators and guests joined members of parliament, sector leaders and fellow members on a night of celebration at the Sheraton Grand Sydney Hyde Park on 20 August 2026, where winners and highly commended recipients were announced.

The whole pipeline, in one room

A national event across the entire research pipeline

These awards bring together organisations from every part of health and medical research; recognising the research, innovation, technology, philanthropy and advocacy that shape all our lives. Finalists are listed in alphabetical order within each category. 23 across six categories, including the Peter Wills Medal.

Our Highest Honour

The Peter Wills Medal

Named for Professor Peter Wills AC, whose landmark review of health and medical research helped lead to Research Australia’s founding. The medal recognises an outstanding contribution to building Australia’s health and medical research system, and is conferred, not competed for, so there are no finalists.

2025–26 Medallist

Professor Melissa Little AC

Murdoch Children’s Research Institute

Amy Ruffle

Actor, producer and comedian · host of The Shake It Up Show

Nominated by

Vicki Miller (CEO, Shake It Up Australia) & Rob Ruffle (Shake It Up Fundraiser & Advocate)
Anne McKenzie AM and Belinda Frank

The Kids Research Institute Australia

Nominated by

Professor Jonathan Carapetis AM (The Kids Research Institute Australia) & Catherine Hughes AM (Immunisation Foundation of Australia)
Winner

Neil and Norma Hill Foundation

Neil and Norma Hill Foundation

Nominated by

Elizabeth Jo (Donor Relations Writer, University of Sydney) & Isabella Andrews (Head of Major Gifts, Children's Medical Research Institute)
UsherKids Australia

UsherKids Australia

Nominated by

Professor Lauren Ayton AM (Associate Dean, Innovation and Enterprise, University of Melbourne) & Ms Emily Shepard MPH (CEO, UsherKids Australia)

Highly commended

A-Eye: Seeing Brain Pressure Through the Eyes

University of Technology Sydney

Nominated by

Professor Angela Dawson (Associate Dean Research, Faculty of Health, UTS) & Professor Minas Coroneo AO (Chairman of Ophthalmology, Prince of Wales Hospital / UNSW)
Associate Professor John Kemp

Musculoskeletal Genomics Research Group Leader, Mater Research

Nominated by

Professor Marc Ruitenberg (Director of Biomedical Research, Mater Research) & Professor David Evans (Director, Centre for Population and Disease Genomics, UQ)
Highly commended

Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health

University of Newcastle · The University of Queensland

Nominated by

University of Newcastle · The University of Queensland
Winner

Data Connect Australia

A national infrastructure for linked data innovation

Nominated by

Professor Rebecca Glauert (Chief Executive, Population Health Research Network) & Professor Fiona Stanley AC (Patron, The Kids Research Institute)
Unlocking Hidden Insight: Innovative Use of Health Administrative Data to Identify Dementia Risk

Macquarie University

Nominated by

Professor Shlomo Berkovsky (Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University) & Professor Ruth Hubbard (University of Queensland)

Dr Aidan Cashin

NHMRC EL1 Leadership Fellow / Deputy Director, Centre for Pain IMPACT, NeuRA · UNSW

Nominated by

Professor James McAuley (UNSW / NeuRA) & Ainslie Cahill AM (Health Consumer Advocate)
Highly commended

Dr Angli Xue

NHMRC Investigator Fellow and Senior Postdoctoral Scientist, Garvan Institute / UNSW Sydney

Nominated by

Professor Joseph Powell (Director, Translational Genomics, Garvan Institute) & Dr Jian Zeng (Group Leader & NHMRC Investigator Fellow, UQ)
Dr Ashfaq Chauhan

Research Fellow, Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University

Nominated by

Professor Reema Harrison (Macquarie University) & Dr Ramesh Walpola (University of New South Wales)
Winner

Dr Caitlin Jones

Research Fellow, School of Public Health, The University of Sydney

Nominated by

Professor Chris Maher (University of Sydney) & Associate Professor Angela Todd (Research Director, Sydney Health Partners)
Highly commended

Dr Jinni Yan

Lecturer, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney

Nominated by

Professor Russell C Dale (Professor of Paediatric Neurology, University of Sydney) & Professor Steven Langford (Head of School, UTS)

Highly commended

Associate Professor Carlos Garcia Esperon

Director, Acute Stroke Services, John Hunter Hospital; Director of Hunter Stroke Services, Hunter New England LHD

Nominated by

Professor Mark Parsons (UNSW South Western Clinical School) & Professor Chris Levi (Executive Director, Research and Innovation, Hunter New England LHD)
Winner

Associate Professor Chris Freeman

Clinical Associate Professor, The University of Queensland

Nominated by

Professor Danny Liew (The University of Queensland) & Professor Mark Naunton (The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia)
Highly commended

Deakin Distinguished Professor Andrea Driscoll

Chair of Nursing, Monash Health / Deakin University Partnership

Nominated by

Deakin Distinguished Professor Rachel Huxley (Executive Dean — Health, Deakin University) & Dr James Theuerle (Director of Cardiology, Austin Health)
Professor Evelien Spelten

La Trobe University Rural Health School / Violet Vines Marshman Research Centre

Nominated by

Jane Mills (Dean, La Trobe Rural Health School) & Simone Heald (CEO, North Richmond Community Health)
Professor Sam Kosari

Professor of Pharmacy, RMIT University

Nominated by

Professor of Pharmacy, RMIT University

AVATAR Medicine Platform

A patient-derived organoid and biomarker framework for precision therapy selection — Associate Professor Shafagh Waters, School of Biomedical Sciences, UNSW Sydney

Nominated by

Professor Jake Baum (Head of School of Biomedical Sciences, UNSW Sydney) & Professor Sarath Ranganathan (Head of Melbourne Medical School)
Dr Daniel Fernández-Ruiz

Dr Daniel Fernández-Ruiz

Nominated by

Associate Professor Izzy Jayasinghe (Head of Department, Molecular Medicine, UNSW Sydney) & Associate Professor Mireille Lahoud (Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute)
SCANNER Team

Deakin University

Nominated by

Professor Suzanne Robinson (Deakin Health Economics, Institute for Health Transformation) & Professor Anna Peeters (CEO, Victorian Health Promotion Foundation)
Winner

The Cancer Blueprint

Associate Professor Arutha Kulasinghe, Chair in Spatial Medicine, Frazer Institute, The University of Queensland

Nominated by

Professor John Fraser AO (Critical Care Research Group, The Prince Charles Hospital / UQ) & Michel Itel OAM (Lung Foundation Australia)