Dr Maria Alejandra Pinero de Plaza is a research fellow and data scientist at Flinders University, Australia, specialising in public health, digital health, and the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare. 

She is known for her work in the following areas:

• Implementation Science and Evaluation. Her research focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of health interventions and ensuring they are adopted in the real world (Health Service Research).
• Digital Health and AI. Dr Pinero de Plaza utilises advanced methods, including AI and machine learning, to improve health services and understand how people interact with technology in complex health contexts.
• Advocacy for Vulnerable Populations. She leads the "Frail, Homebound & Bedridden People" (FHBP) program, advancing research and advocating for digital health equity and access to care for communities often excluded from traditional healthcare systems (Knowledge Translation and Inclusion).
• Framework Development. She is the founder and lead developer of PROLIFERATE and PROLIFERATE_AI, internationally recognised frameworks for evaluating the adoption, equity, and sustainability of healthcare innovations (Implementation Science).
• Awards and Recognition. In 2024, she was recognised with the Healthcare Innovator Award at the inaugural Women of Colour in STEM Awards, the Vice-President & Executive Dean's Awards of Flinders University (2021 & 2022) and many other accolades.

She holds a PhD in Health Promotion, Social Marketing, and Behaviour and Health from Deakin University and has a background in Marketing Science and Social Communication. She also serves as an Associate Editor for the Q1 journal JBI Evidence Implementation, and is completing her Applied AI and Data Science Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The Healthcare Innovator Award acknowledges significant achievements in healthcare, medical research, or patient care. Dr Pinero de Plaza was recognised for her work developing and applying the PROLIFERATE and PROLIFERATE_AI frameworks: tools for evaluating innovation and AI in healthcare systems. Her work in the CLCT, FHBP and the RAPIDx AI project (implemented across 12 hospitals in South Australia), demonstrates the principles of ethical, human-centered research and evaluation in practice.

Dr Maria Alejandra Piñero de Plaza is a Research Fellow at Flinders University. Her research focuses on care, evaluation, and innovation in sociotechnical systems: systems where people, tools, and services interact to shape and inform how care and policy are delivered in the real world. She works in the field of digital health, utilising both simple and advanced methods, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, and predictive tools, to improve health services.

She leads a research program dedicated to developing and testing methods that reveal what makes health interventions effective. Her work supports the expansion of frailty platforms and cardiac rehabilitation programs, with a strong emphasis on making care more person-centred, equitable, and accessible through participatory research that actively involves consumers and end-users at every stage of the research process.

Dr Piñero de Plaza leads the development of PROLIFERATE and PROLIFERATE_AI. These evaluation frameworks are co-designed with transdisciplinary teams to measure how people experience new technologies and services, as well as their likelihood of success in real-world settings (e.g  CSIRO ON Prime).

As a member of collaborative and transdisciplinary research teams,  she has contributed to securing over A$2.67 million in competitive research funding. Notable contributions include:

• 1.    RAPIDx AI – Optimising Evidence Translation in Emergency Management for Suspected Cardiac Chest Pain
  Role: Evaluator and AI specialist
  Funding: A$1,230,191.40 (NHMRC)
• 2.    Safe@Home – Telemonitoring and Virtual Care for Chronic Disease Management
  Role: Evaluator of virtual care systems
  Funding: A$1,096,999.00 (NHMRC) + A$350,000.00 (NALHN)
• 3.    CREW – Cardiac Rehabilitation Especially for Women
  Role: Co-investigator and knowledge dissemination lead
  Funding: A$150,000.00 (The Hospital Research Foundation)
• 4.    CR4ALL – Cardiac Rehabilitation for All
  Role: Chief Investigator ‘C’
  Funding: A$24,990.30 (Flinders Foundation)
• 5.    COVID-19 Rapid Evaluation of Allied Health and Nursing Practice
  Role: Senior Chief Investigator
  Funding: A$49,891.00 (Flinders Caring Futures Institute)
• 6.    Frail, Homebound and Bedridden People Project
  (#FHBP, which has influenced how governments engaged with homebound people) Role: Chief Investigator A
  Funding: A$4,000.00 (Caring Futures Institute Accelerator Scheme)
• 7.    Australia’s National CSIRO ON Prime Innovator Program - Reward
  Role: Chief Investigator A for PROLIFERATE_AI
  Funding: A$5,000.00

Her research employs predictive modelling, expert knowledge elicitation, and Bayesian approaches to understand and influence behaviours, as well as to support the implementation and scale-up of health interventions and programs. This work contributes tothe improvement off healthcare practices, decision-making, and service delivery.

She also leads studies that evaluate the effectiveness of health interventions in real-world settings and their macro impact. Her 2025 systematic review in Health and Social Care in the Community demonstrated that telehealth can reduce hospital visits and improve mental well-being for homebound individuals. She contributes to projects on nurse-led care, cardiac rehabilitation, and health education for people in rural and remote areas, older adults, First Nations Peoples, and women with heart disease. These studies report outcomes such as hospital use, remote monitoring, medication adherence, health-related quality of life, and program completion via interactive cardiac rehabilitation web applications.

Dr Piñero de Plaza applies care models, such as the Caring Life Course Theory, to explore how people experience care over time and associated epidemiology. She also utilises the Fundamentals of Care Framework to evaluate the contextual, emotional, physical, and relational care that facilitates care integration, considering the effects of technology. Her most recent work applies these models through predictive analytics across countries and services.

As a knowledge translation and implementation researcher, she co-designs and evaluates communication tools, such as infographics, digital galleries and videos, to support shared decision-making (e.g #FHBP) and therapeutic relationships between patients, caregivers, communities, and clinicians (visit her dissemination work on Springer Nature). These tools are used in training, planning, and evaluation. She also teaches and coordinates topics on healthy ageing and supervises PhD students.

Springer Nature Research Communities

She advocates for evidence-based research and peer-reviews for thr Springer Nature Platform, and is a member of the JBI Evidence Implementation Network, two JBI expert reference groups (Cardiovascular and Aged Care), and an Associate Editor for JBI Evidence Implementation (Q1 Journal), also contributing to their staff research outputs.  She is dedicated to advancing impactful, policy-relevant research that informs and improves future health services and systems for all.

What is FWCI (Field-Weighted Citation Impact)?
FWCI shows how often a researcher’s work is cited compared to the global average in the same field.

A score of 1.0 means citations are at the global average.
A score of 2.0 means the work is cited twice as often as expected.
A score of 9.0 means it is cited nine times more than average.

As of July 2025, Dr. Maria Alejandra Piñero de Plaza holds an FWCI of 2.85, indicating that her work is cited 185% more frequently than the global norm. Her median FWCI is 1.62, showing consistent above-average influence across her portfolio. These results reflect the practical relevance and international reach of her research in digital health, care innovation, and health system improvement.

Fields where Dr. Piñero de Plaza’s research is cited more than twice the global average (FWCI > 2): Medical and Surgical Nursing — 9.04; Advanced and Specialised Nursing — 9.04; Public Health — 6.65; Cardiology — 4.33; Nursing Research and Theory — 4.45; General Nursing — 3.92; Biomedical and Medical Engineering — 3.48; Health Informatics — 2.65; Health Information Management — 2.66; Health Policy — 2.22; Rehabilitation and Physiotherapy — 2.17; Nursing Ethics and Legal Aspects — 2.07; Multidisciplinary Research — 2.06. These metrics confirm Dr. Piñero de Plaza’s global impact and leadership in advancing person-centred care, digital innovation, and equitable health systems.

Her career path and evolution has also been recognised by an advisory research and knowledge translation role for ME_Group Australia and other independent organisations supporting women in healthcare and medical research environments, e.g, Franklin Women.