FINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR
2025-26 RESEARCH AUSTRALIA AWARDS
We are delighted to announce the finalists across our Award categories for the 2025-26 Awards.
These finalists, their nominators and guests will join members of parliament, key sector influencers, and fellow Research Australia members in a night of celebration where the winners and highly commended recipients will be announced.
This national event brings together organisations from across the entire health and medical research pipeline to acknowledge and reward the research, innovation, technology, philanthropy and advocacy that play such a significant part in all our lives.
AND THE FINALISTS ARE…
(in surname alphabetical order)
AbbVie Advocacy & Philanthropy Award
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)
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)
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
Nominated by Professor Lauren Ayton AM (Associate Dean, Innovation and Enterprise, University of Melbourne) & Ms Emily Shepard MPH (CEO, UsherKids Australia)
DHCRC Digital and Data Health Innovation Award
A-Eye: Seeing Brain Pressure Through the Eyes (Project team)
University of Technology Sydney
Nominated by Professor Angela Dawson (Associate Dean Research, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney) & Professor Minas Coroneo AO (Chairman of Ophthalmology, Prince of Wales Hospital / UNSW)
Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (Project team)
Nominated by Professor Deborah Loxton (Director, Centre for Women’s Health Research, University of Newcastle) & Professor Gita Mishra AO (Director, Australian Women and Girls’ Health Research Centre, University of Queensland)
Dr John Kemp
Musculoskeletal Genomics Research Group Leader, Mater Research
Nominated by Professor Marc Ruitenberg (Director of Biomedical Research, Mater Research) & Professor David Evans (Director of Centre for Population and Disease Genomics, University of Queensland)
Population Health Research Network (Organisation)
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
Nominated by Professor Shlomo Berkovsky (Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University) & Professor Ruth Hubbard (University of Queensland)
Discovery Award
Dr Aidan Cashin
NHMRC EL1 Leadership Fellow / Deputy Director, Centre for Pain IMPACT, Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) (UNSW)
Nominated by Professor James McAuley (NHMRC Leadership Fellow & Professor, UNSW / Senior Research Scientist, NeuRA) & Ainslie Cahill AM (Health Consumer Advocate)
Dr Ashfaq Chauhan
Research Fellow, Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University
Nominated by Professor Reema Harrison (Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University) & Dr Ramesh Walpola (University of New South Wales)
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)
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, University of Queensland)
Dr Jinni Jingya 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, University of Technology Sydney)
Bond University Health Services Research Award
Associate Professor Carlos Garcia Esperon
Director, Acute Stroke Services, John Hunter Hospital; Director of Hunter Stroke Services, Hunter New England Local Health District
Nominated by Professor Mark Parsons (UNSW South Western Clinical School) & Professor Chris Levi (Executive Director, Research and Innovation, Hunter New England Local Health District)
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)
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)
Professor Sam Kosari
Professor of Pharmacy, RMIT University
Nominated by Professor Nicole Freene (Associate Dean Research (Health), University of Canberra)
Professor Evelien Spelten
Professor, 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)
UNSW Frontiers Award
AVATAR Medicine Platform (project team)
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)
The Cancer Blueprint
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 / University of Queensland) & Michel Itel OAM (Lung Foundation Australia)
Dr Daniel Fernández-Ruiz
Senior Research Fellow, UNSW RNA Institute and School of Biomedical Sciences, UNSW Sydney
Nominated by Associate Professor Izzy Jayasinghe (Head of Department, Dept of Molecular Medicine, UNSW Sydney) & Associate Professor Mireille Lahoud (Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute)
SCANNER Team, Deakin University
Nominated by Professor Suzanne Robinson (Professor Deakin Health Economics, Institute for Health Transformation) & Professor Anna Peeters (CEO, Victorian Health Promotion Foundation)
In addition to the winners of the above categories, further awards will be announced on the night. Please mark the Gala Dinner and Ceremony in your diary and join us to celebrate the best in health and medical research, innovation, leadership, philanthropy and advocacy.
Of course none of this would be possible without our wonderful sponsors, to whom we are very grateful.
Best wishes from your Research Australia team
Research Australia