ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr presenting the ACT Australian of the Year Award 2026 to Professor Rose McGready. Photo: Dr Rose McGready Foundation, Instagram.
“If you have malaria today in Canberra Hospital, you’ll receive a treatment that was pioneered on the Myanmar border.”
Professor Rose McGready only planned on staying six months when she arrived at the Thai-Myanmar border as a healthcare volunteer in 1994. That was more than 30 years ago, and only now is she considering retirement.
Over the years, she’s dedicated her life to delivering frontline healthcare to displaced families in one of the world’s poorest, most dangerous, violence-rife places – work which has saved thousands of lives and reshaped global malaria treatment.
Professor Rose McGready. Photo: Australian of the Year Awards.
McGready, 61, was named 2026 ACT Australian of the Year at a ceremony at the National Gallery of Australia on Monday evening (17 November), with three other Canberrans who will go on to represent the ACT at the national Australian of the Year Awards in January.
When she first arrived in Thailand – after studying medicine at the University of Sydney – multi-drug resistant malaria was rampant, with more than 100 cases of the deadly falciparum strain treated in a single day at one clinic.
Fast forward to today, and that same clinic hasn’t seen a case in six years.
Through the ‘Malaria Elimination Task Force’, the death rate from malaria in pregnancy in the region fell from 1000 per 100,000 live births in 1985 to zero since 2015.
McGready’s research also changed the way the disease is treated worldwide, with her findings on the safety and dosage of antimalarial drugs in pregnancy now underpinning the World Health Organisation’s global guidelines.
In addition to the research, McGready also spent decades training local health workers, which dramatically reduced unsupervised home births and strengthened long-term healthcare capacity in rural border areas.
She lived for years in refugee camps herself and now lives in Mae Sot, in Thailand’s Tak Province, with her husband, Stephane.
In 2022, supporters established the Dr Rose McGready Foundation to help continue her clinics’ work, which remains a lifeline for local migrants who still lack access to public health services in Thailand.
Professor Rose McGready with a child in one of the foundation’s clinics in Myanmar. Photo: Dr Rose McGready Foundation, Instagram.
Due to cuts this year to USAID, Professor McGready’s unsure what the future holds.
“USAID [funding cuts] had a significant impact on … humanitarian groups, so we will be letting people go next year unless something different happens because the global fund … that helps TB and malaria is also gone,” she told the room on Monday night.
“So this award – maybe it helps us maintain the minimum service that we can provide.”
National Australia Day Council CEO Mark Fraser said McGready’s contribution “has provided much-needed medical care to some of the most vulnerable people in the world”.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr also paid tribute, saying the honourees’ achievements made “Canberra – and the world around them – a safer, healthier and more inclusive place to live”.
Football pioneer Heather Reid, 69, has been named the 2026 ACT Senior Australian of the Year for helping to build women’s football from the ground up.
Reid founded the ANU Women’s Soccer Club in 1978, then the ACT Women’s Soccer Association a year later, and – as the first female CEO of Capital Football in 2004 – unified four football bodies under a single umbrella and secured Canberra United’s place in the W-League.
She has continued to mentor players, coaches and administrators, and established the ‘Heather Reid AM Bursary’ to help young players cover registration fees so financial hardship isn’t a barrier to taking the field.
The title of 2026 ACT Young Australian of the Year went to Sita Sargeant, a 28-year-old historian behind ‘She Shapes History’ – a walking-tour company and social enterprise that uncovers stories of women often omitted from mainstream Australian history.
ACT Australian of the Year 2026 Heather Reid, Sita Sargeant, Rose McGready and Ben Alexander. Photo: Australian of the Year Awards.
Sargeant and her team have taken more than 10,000 people on tours across Canberra, and have now expanded into Sydney and Melbourne. She has also published a book featuring more than 250 women who helped shape 31 towns and cities across the country.
Her work, Fraser said, ensures overlooked women “are remembered and recognised”.
Former Brumbies and Wallabies prop Ben Alexander, 41, has been named the 2026 ACT Local Hero for his mental-health advocacy.
After retiring from rugby, Alexander co-founded Running for Resilience (R4R) with Matt Breen, aiming to make Canberra suicide-free by 2033. The group now draws hundreds to free weekly runs and walks across the city, helping people manage stress, connect with others and stay active. Alexander is also the co-owner of The Dock in Kingston.
The Australians of the Year 2026 will be announced on 25 January 2026.
