Professor Raina MacIntyre from the Kirby Institute at UNSW Sydney has received the 2026 American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) Alliance Chairman's Choice Award.
The AmCham Awards recognise leaders in industries who will drive future economic ties between Australia and the United States, including in fintech, cyber security, energy, life sciences, security and resilience, and space.
The award from AmCham Chairman David Moffatt recognises Prof. MacIntyre’s work in the US with EPIWATCH, opens in a new window, an AI-driven platform for spotting potential infectious disease epidemics before they become widespread, as well as her work on the Able Resolve pandemic exercises for the US Indo-Pacific Command (US PACOM) using EPIWATCH as a central tool.
Prof. MacIntyre, who leads the Biosecurity Program at the Kirby Institute, was also Highly Commended in the Security and Resilience Alliance Award category.
“EPIWATCH has more traction in the US than any other country, so to be recognised by the Chairman of AmCham really inspires me to keep working on the US-Australia relationship and building on what we’ve achieved so far,” Prof. MacIntyre said.
“It is an honour to win this award and the culmination of a long-standing research relationship I have had with the US.”
Prof. MacIntyre’s US ties span from her Harkness Fellowship at Johns Hopkins in the 1990s and a 2007 award from the Association of Military Surgeons of the US (AMSUS) for her work on bioterrorism, to collaborations with Arizona State University through UNSW’s PLuS Alliance, and the US PACOM. She has also received an international award from Microsoft to accelerate the AI development of EPIWATCH.
As part of the award, Prof. MacIntyre will travel to New York to meet with key stakeholders from the Australian American Association, including President Steven Marshall AO.
Prof. MacIntyre said the award reflected decades of collaboration with US institutions and partners, and created opportunities to support EPIWATCH's work in the US.
“I have been researching infectious diseases and epidemics since 1992, but my focus on biosecurity against biological warfare really kicked off after winning the AMSUS award 20 years ago.
“The catastrophic Ebola epidemic in West Africa in 2014 was a turning point in epidemic intelligence. It drove me to develop an early warning system that could trigger earlier action and response, creating a better prospect of stopping or containing serious epidemics. EPIWATCH was the first such system to be developed in the world.
“We’ve seen the devastating impact that infectious disease epidemics can have on individuals, families, communities and societies, making early detection and response more important than ever.”
EPIWATCH improves pandemic preparedness
EPIWATCH can tap into vast, open-source intelligence in more than 50 languages and pick up early warnings from local news and other reports globally, collating the information into maps, graphs, tables and charts for real-time analysis.
“Pandemics don’t respect borders, and they spread to affect the whole world, so international collaboration is key. However, for many reasons, including trade, tourism, and political considerations, countries do not always share information, or information sharing may be partial or delayed,” Prof. MacIntyre said.
“That is where a tool like EPIWATCH is impactful – it gives you eyes over the world without needing permission from anyone. It gives you autonomy and agency to act to mitigate epidemics and pandemics.”
Preparing for future outbreaks
The 2024 and 2025 Able Resolve exercise for US Indo-Pacific Command involved a simulated pandemic that started in our region and spread globally.
Prof. MacIntyre and colleagues at UNSW developed an immersive simulation, complete with radio broadcasts and video news bulletins for more than 100 participants, supported by EPIWATCH as a tool to evaluate the unfolding scenario.
Underpinned by mathematical modelling, the exercise allowed participants to see the real-time consequences of their decisions and the impact of different response strategies.
“The world is in a much more fragile place than it was 10 years ago. We live in a world where there’s a lot of instability, a lot of threats, and alliances help us with resilience, to be stronger and to defend ourselves against threats,” Prof MacIntyre said.
She noted her work was driven by a desire to prevent harm and existential threats to humanity posed by pathogens and emerging technology, such as AI-generated viruses.
“I went into medicine and public health to make a difference, to reduce harm, and everything I do is still driven by that desire to prevent harm to people and threats to humanity,” she said.
UNSW Dean of Medicine & Health, Professor Cheryl Jones, congratulated Prof. MacIntyre on her award.
“Raina’s groundbreaking approach to epidemic intelligence has transformed how we detect and respond to infectious disease threats globally. This recognition from AmCham highlights her exceptional scientific leadership, and the strength of her relationship with the United States in advancing public health and biosecurity.”