QIMR Berghofer Barrier Immunity Team Head Dr Amanda Oliver has been named the winner of the prestigious 2026 Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes (AAMRI) Rising Star Award.
The national award recognises emerging leaders in medical research who are making significant contributions to improving human health through discovery and innovation.
Dr Oliver was recognised for her outstanding work investigating how barrier tissues, including the gut, influence immune responses and inflammatory disease. Her research combines large-scale biological datasets with advanced computational approaches to uncover the cellular processes that drive conditions like inflammatory bowel disease.
Working closely with collaborators around the world, Dr Oliver has helped generate new insights into the complex interactions between tissues and the immune system. Her recently established research group at QIMR Berghofer is extending this work through patient-focused research models, with the hope of developing more effective treatments.
The award was presented during the 2026 AAMRI Dinner at Parliament House in Canberra, where Australia's medical research leaders gathered to celebrate excellence and innovation across the sector.
During his keynote address, Minister for Health and Ageing the Hon Mark Butler MP praised the Rising Star finalists, saying they were "already making amazing discoveries but when we see them
up on stage, we recognise that they have decades of discoveries left within them".
AAMRI President, Professor Jason Kovacic said “The very best research doesn’t just advance knowledge – it completely changes the way that a field moves forward. Amanda’s creation of the first integrated cellular atlas of the human gastrointestinal tract has done exactly that, providing researchers around the world with a powerful new resource while uncovering important new insights into inflammatory bowel disease. Amanda is an outstanding scientist, and a thoroughly deserving recipient of the 2026 AAMRI
Rising Star Award”.
Dr Oliver's success continues a strong run for QIMR Berghofer researchers on the national stage. She is the second consecutive Institute researcher to receive the honour, following Computational Neurogenetics researcher Dr Luis Garcia Marin, who won the AAMRI Rising Star Award in 2025. QIMR Berghofer congratulates AAMRI and award sponsor CSL for celebrating emerging research excellence, and acknowledges the outstanding achievements of all 2026 Rising Star Award finalists.