University of California San Francisco

Kimberly Badal headshot 144x192
Kimberly Badal, PhD

Assistant Professor of Surgery
Division of Surgical Oncology

Address

35 Medical Center Way, #6357
San Francisco, CA 94143
United States

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 415-885-7691

    Biography

    I was born and raised in the beautiful Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago. My experience working in limited-resource and high-resource settings has guided my research interests. My research program is therfore united by a commitment to addressing disparities in breast cancer incidence and outcomes through a comprehensive approach that combines computational methods, community engagement, and health policy analysis. By focusing on the continuum of care—from understanding risk factors to improving access to treatment and assessing economic implications—I aim to bridge gaps in precision health and promote health equity globally. My research program has three key areas:

    1. Understanding Environmental Drivers of Breast Cancer Risk. We aim to investigate how cumulative environmental exposures at work and at home contribute to disparities in breast cancer risk using machine learning.

    2. Economic Implications of Breast Cancer Screening. We aim to analyze the costs of different age-based and risk-based breast cancer screening algorithms in the USA to inform policy and ensure sustainable, equitable screening interventions.

    3. Implement Programs and Tools to Reduce Cancer Treatment Disparities in the Caribbean. We aim to implement and evaluate cancer patient navigation, and diagnostic AI tools to improve cancer management. This research is done through the Caribbean Cancer Research Institute, an NGO I founded in 2016, and in collaboration with various hospitals and NGOs in the Caribbean.

    Education

    Institution Degree Dept or School End Date
    The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago Doctor of Philosophy (with High Commendation) Molecular Genetics 2022
    St. Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands Master of Science Biomedical Science; Specialization in Infectious Disease 2014
    York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Bachelor of Science Biomedical Science (Honors) 2012

    Awards & Honors

    Award Conferred By Date
    Environmental Justice Bootcamp Travel Award Columbia University 2023/2023
    Breast Oncology Program Research Development Award University of California San Francisco 2023/2023
    Cancer Cell Map Initiative Cancer Systems Biology Training Program Award University of California San Francisco 2023/2023
    EaRTH Centre Postdoctoral Mentorship Award University of California San Francisco 2023/2023
    "One to Watch" Alumni Award York University, Toronto, ON 2019/2019
    Scientist <-> Survivor Program Scholarship American Association for Cancer Research 2018/2018
    Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative Fellowship US Department of State 2017/2017
    Radboud Scholarship Program & StudyFund Scholarship Radbound University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands 2012/2012
    National Additional Scholarship Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago 2008/2008
    Shezan Al Memorial Trophy for Outstanding Achievement St. Joseph's Convent, San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago 2008/2008
    International Circle of Scholars Scholarship York University, Toronto, ON 2008/2008
    International Internship Award York University, Toronto, ON 2008/2008

    Grants and Funding

    • WISDOM: A platform to optimize subtype-specific screening and prevention | NIH/NCI | 2024-08-01 - 2029-07-31 | Role: Co-Investigator
    • Leveraging the WISDOM cohort to improve genetic, epigenetic, and environmental contributions to breast cancer risk assessment | Department of Defense | 2024-04-01 - 2028-03-31 | Role: Project Lead
    • Investigating the relationship between chemical exposures, DNA methylation, and breast cancer risk. | California Breast Cancer Research Program | 2024-03-01 - 2027-03-31 | Role: Principal Investigator
    • Elucidating the epigenomic alterations associated with toxic environmental chemical exposures and breast cancer risk in the Athena Breast Health Network using machine learning | NIH/NCI, UC San Francisco-UC San Diego Cancer Cell Map Initiative | 2023-11-01 - 2024-10-31 | Role: Mentored Postdoctoral Scolar Award
    • Characterizing the chemical exposome and examining its role in breast cancer risk prediction using the Athena Breast Health Network cohor | NIH/NCI, UCSF Breast Oncology Program | 2023-11-01 - 2024-10-31 | Role: Principal Investigator
    • A pilot study of non-targeted chemical screening analysis in archived blood samples from participants in the Athena Breast Health Network | NIH/NIEHS, UCSF Environmental Research and Translation for Health (EaRTH) | 2023-07-01 - 2024-02-29 | Role: Mentored Postdoctoral Scolar Award

    Publications

    MOST RECENT PUBLICATIONS FROM A TOTAL OF 13
    1. A situational analysis of breast cancer early detection services in Trinidad and Tobago.
      Badal K, Rampersad F, Warner WA, Toriola AT, Mohammed H, Scheffel HA, Ali R, Moosoodeen M, Konduru S, Russel A, Haraksingh R| | PubMed
    2. Perspectives in Bioethics: Precision Medicine a Threat to Health Equity
      Roach A, Badal K, Sookar N| | UCSF Research Profile
    3. Molecular Characterisation of Chikungunya Virus Infections in Trinidad and Comparison of Clinical and Laboratory Features with Dengue and Other Acute Febrile Cases.
      Sahadeo N, Mohammed H, Allicock OM, Auguste AJ, Widen SG, Badal K, Pulchan K, Foster JE, Weaver SC, Carrington CV| | PubMed