Mid-Career STEMM Professional of the Year 2026 Finalists

Professor Inacio is an epidemiologist whose work is improving the lives of older people and shaping how aged care is delivered across Australia. She uses large‑scale data to understand how health and aged care systems work in real life, and how they can work better.

As the founder and leader of the Registry of Senior Australians (ROSA), Professor Inacio helped create a national evidence platform that shows where aged care is doing well and where change is needed. Her work has directly informed major government reforms, including public star ratings for aged care services, safer use of medications, and greater support for older people to remain living at home.

Beyond government impact, Professor Inacio works closely with service providers, consumer groups, and the community to make evidence accessible and practical. Her research is helping reduce hospital admissions, improve safety and care quality, and supports better use of public resources – strengthening trust, accountability, and outcomes in one of Australia’s most important public services.

Associate Professor Jiawen Li is an internationally recognised engineer whose work brings together biomedical engineering, light‑based technologies and advanced manufacturing.

She has created some of the world’s smallest imaging and sensing devices, several as small as a human hair, by combining different ways of seeing and measuring inside the body. These breakthroughs have addressed long-standing problems in fibre-optic imaging and are improving care in areas including heart disease, fertility treatment, and brain surgery. Multiple global companies have translated her inventions into products with the potential to benefit millions of patients with cardiovascular disease.

More recently, she has led the use of cutting-edge nanoscale 3D printing to develop a new generation of miniature, flexible medical imaging devices with exceptional resolution and sensitivity. In 2024, she founded Adelaide-based Theia Medical Pty Ltd, to commercialise these next generation medical devices, bringing life-saving diagnostic tools to clinicians, while creating high-value jobs and supporting Australia’s growing biomedical innovation sector.

She reaches millions through national and international media coverage and is inspiring the next generation, especially girls and those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to pursue careers in science and engineering.