Dr Maria Alejandra Pinero de Plaza is a scientist committed to facilitating healthy living and better public health services through knowledge translation and health research. She is a Research Fellow at Flinders University and the National Health and Medical Research Council, Centre of Research Excellence in Frailty and Healthy Ageing. Her studies focus on designing, implementing, and evaluating interventions regarding behaviour change, high-tech solutions, and partnering with end-users to ensure better access, care, equity, safety, and quality services to improve health outcomes and well-being.

In 2020-22, Dr Pinero de Plaza investigations were accepted/published in these Q1 journals:

• Health Promotion International
• Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services
• The International Journal of Qualitative Methods
• The Journal of Clinical Nursing
• PLOS ONE
• BMJ Open
• Nursing Philosophy
• Telemedicine and e-Health

Dr Pinero de Plaza won the Vice-President & Executive Dean's Awards 2021, "for a FEARLESS embodiment of the University values in Research", and the 2021 Consumer Health Forum video competition: 'Big Ideas' to improve the Australian health care system. She has secured prestigious awards, attracting more than $AUD1,495,221 worth of grant funding as Associate Investigator (AI) and Chief Investigator (CI):

• NHMRC Partnership Grant (AI),
• Caring Futures Institute COVID-19 grant (CI),
• Caring Futures Institute, Two Accelerator Schemes (CI and AI),
• The Hospital Research Foundation (AI),
• Flinders Foundation Health Seed Grant (CI)

Dr Pinero de Plaza brings a multidisciplinary background in health promotion, behaviour, and health. Her PhD investigated mapping out healthy and unhealthy dietary patterns for global but targeted health interventions. She has also studied computerised methods of evaluating consumer behaviours and memory accuracy concerning brand recognition and product design in marketing science.

Currently, she is contributing to the end user's engagements and KT aspects of RAPIDX AI. As a Chief Investigator, she has been awarded 2 Grants: 1. Concerning the marginalisation of Frail, Homebound and Bedridden people in Australia; 2. About COVID-19 and the use of Digital Technologies within inpatients settings to improve the patient-clinician relationship. Recently, she has been co-creating a new Arts in Health certification and an Alliance across Colleges.