Dr Jiao Jiao Li

As a biomedical engineer working in regenerative medicine, Jiao Jiao envisions a future where stem cells and bioactive materials can be ‘personalised’ to provide optimal treatments for major diseases. She is currently developing regenerative therapies for bone and joint disorders – debilitating diseases affecting hundreds of millions of people, old and young across the globe.

Jiao Jiao’s research is enabled by her connections with universities, collaborators, industry partners, and patient groups. She loves bringing people together from around the world with different backgrounds, cultures, skills and experiences to jointly solve medical challenges, and passing on the passion of creating STEM solutions to the next generation.

Jiao Jiao’s work has attracted a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) fellowship, more than 30 research awards including in 2022 the Premier’s Prize for NSW Early Career Researcher of the Year (Physical Sciences) and NSW Young Tall Poppy Scientist of the Year, as well as the Australian winner of Falling Walls Lab 2021. She was elected in 2022 as the Early Career Representative to the Science & Technology Australia (STA) Board. She was also Co-Deputy Director and a chief investigator on the Australian Research Council (ARC) Training Centre for Innovative BioEngineering. She was trained through a combined Bachelor of Biomedical Engineering (Honours I with University Medal)/Bachelor of Medical Science and PhD from the University of Sydney.

Jiao Jiao is always passionate about volunteering for outreach programs to promote STEM and her field to the younger generation and public community. Born and raised in Beijing, she also strongly advocates for women with culturally diverse backgrounds in STEM research.