Medical Science and Research

Dr. Simone Badal-McCreath, also widely published as Simone Badal, is a Jamaican biochemist whose work is helping to make cancer research more representative of Caribbean people and populations of African ancestry. A past student of Meadowbrook High School, she has built a career combining laboratory discovery, university teaching and the development of scientific capacity in Jamaica.^{1, 3}

From Meadowbrook to medical research

Her interest in science took root at Meadowbrook. She went on to The University of the West Indies, Mona, where she earned BSc, MPhil and PhD degrees; her academic training also included MBA studies at the University of Wales. Her early cancer research, undertaken under the supervision of Dr. Rupika Delgoda, examined Jamaican natural and synthetic compounds for potential anticancer and cancer-preventive activity. This work connected the island’s natural resources with questions in biochemistry and drug discovery.^{1, 2}

As a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Basic Medical Sciences at The UWI, Mona, she has combined research with training emerging scientists. Her career illustrates the importance of building the expertise and laboratory infrastructure needed to pursue demanding biomedical research within the Caribbean.^{3, 7}

Making Caribbean patients visible in the laboratory

A decisive change in her research direction came when she recognised that the established cancer cell lines used to test promising compounds in her doctoral work were derived from people of European ancestry. She could not find comparable Caribbean models. Rather than accept that gap, she turned to developing cell lines from Caribbean patients, beginning with prostate cancer.³

A cell line is a population of cells that researchers can grow and study outside the body. Such models help scientists investigate cancer biology and assess possible treatments before clinical research. More representative models allow researchers to ask questions that a narrow range of donor backgrounds may leave unanswered.^{4, 6}

Working with her team and collaborators, including researcher Henkel Valentine, she helped develop ACRJ-PC28, a prostate cancer cell line derived from a Jamaican man of African ancestry. The US National Cancer Institute reported the achievement in 2021; the team’s detailed peer-reviewed study appeared in Cancer Research Communications in 2022. This milestone added a Caribbean-derived model to an international research field in which Black populations had been poorly represented.^{3, 4}

Extending the work to breast cancer

Her research programme has also addressed breast cancer. In May 2026, Scientific Reports published a study describing the establishment and characterisation of ACRJ-BC24 and two related sublines, ACRJ-BC24α and ACRJ-BC24β, from an Afro-Caribbean patient. Badal conceived, designed and supervised the study, secured its funding and led manuscript preparation and revision, alongside a multidisciplinary team.⁵

The study examined molecular characteristics and drug sensitivities, providing additional tools for investigating breast cancer in an underrepresented population. These models support further research; laboratory findings still require additional validation before they can establish benefits for patients. The achievement is the creation of research resources that can help scientists ask more relevant questions about disease and treatment.⁵

Research leadership and shared knowledge

Her work has attracted international support, including an NIH Fogarty International Center Emerging Global Leader award for a prostate cancer project funded across 2020–2025, with Fox Chase Cancer Center as a collaborator and the US National Cancer Institute as an NIH partner. The award supported research focused on improving the representation of men of African ancestry in prostate cancer models.⁶

By the time of her 2025 Anthony N. Sabga award, the organisers reported more than 45 peer-reviewed publications and over US$1 million in research funding. Her contribution also reaches readers beyond the laboratory: her 2023 memoir, No Cell Left Behind, recounts the journey behind the Caribbean cell-line breakthrough. Through the ACRJ Foundation she has also supported educational opportunities.⁷

In 2026, Springer published her two companion volumes of Cell Culture for Universal Application: Foundations, Diversity Crisis, and the Path Forward and Laboratory Protocols and Implementation Strategies. Together, they address cell culture science, the consequences of unrepresentative models and practical approaches to developing inclusive research. Jamaica’s 2026 health-research funding announcements also named her project to characterise breast cancer in Jamaican women and inform treatment, policy and international research.^{10, 11, 13}

A Meadowbrook achievement with international reach

Her honours span early-career scientific recognition, international research programmes and regional excellence. In October 2026, the Meadowbrook High School Past Students’ Association recognised her with its Award for Excellence in Academia at the school’s 68th Anniversary Homecoming Dinner and Awards Ceremony.¹²

For the Meadowbrook community, her story connects a love of science developed at school with persistent work on a global research challenge. Her contribution lies in expanding who is represented in the tools of cancer science, while helping to build the knowledge and capacity needed for the next generation of Caribbean researchers.