By Tony Best
Of the many wide-ranging national, provincial awards and local acclaims of excellence for ground-breaking cancer research Professor Juliet Daniel received, one that recently reverberated across Canada was the recognition of her peers in scientists.
It came last year when it was announced that the 61-year-old Barbadian, a distinguished biology professor and associate dean of research and external relations at McMaster University in Ontario, had been elected to the prestigious national Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.
Daniel passed away on Tuesday in a Canadian hospital after a battle with cancer.
“Election to the academy is considered one of the highest honours for individuals in the Canadian health sciences community,” stated McMaster University, where Daniel and her team of researchers excelled in cancer research.
She grew up in Culloden Road, St Michael, attended St Paul’s Primary School, Queen’s College and later earned undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, including a doctorate in science, from leading Canadian universities. She was an internationally respected cancer researcher at McMaster.
Her research led to the discovery and naming of a new gene, “Kaiso”, coined from her favourite musical genre, calypso. It regulates the expression of genes that control cell proliferation, cell adhesion and cell motility. As explained in a publication, Kaiso’s malfunction in cells leads to developmental disorders, aggressive tumour growth and spread in various human cancers, for example, breast, colon and prostate cancers.
“Oh, what an amazing scientist, what a friend,” Pamela Geraldine Appelt, a retired judge of Canada’s Citizenship Court and close friend of the Bajan, told the Weekend Nation after news broke of the sudden death of Daniel at the height of her stellar scientific career.
“We were together in Barbados, my second home, but during the wonderful visit we had to fly back quickly so she could receive urgent medical care. Unfortunately, she did not survive. What a tremendous loss to people everywhere.”
Barbadian Dr Grant Morris, a prominent urban planning expert renowned for his philanthropy in Ontario, providing scholarships, toys and other forms of assistance to Caribbean youth, agreed with Appelt.
“Dr Daniel’s penetrating scientific research and interest in the growth and development of young people was simply remarkable and well known across Canada,” he said. “We have lost a wonderful human. The world of science is poorer today, but her legacy will live on through the lives of cancer survivors.”
Dr Shellie Gumbs, a Barbadian medical cancer specialist at the worldfamous Memorial Sloan Kettering Institute in New York, said Daniel’s “amazing discovery” of the Kaiso gene transformed the scientific understanding of cancer.
“Her ground-breaking work revealed how this gene regulates tumour suppression and the way in which cancer cells invade various organs. It provided a critical foundation for the development of targeted cancer therapies. Her work brought new hope to patients battling aggressive cancers, advancing both early detection and treatment outcomes.”
She added: “Whenever a Bajan goes for an examination, say for a lump in the breast or treatment for prostate cancer, for instance, he or she should say thank God for the work of a fellow Barbadian, Dr Daniel. Yes, we mourn her death, but her legacy will continue to shape the future of cancer care. That is important to remember.”
The Barbados Cancer Association USA said the researcher’s legacy was “one of excellence, compassion and unwavering commitment to improving lives in Canada, Barbados and elsewhere around the world”.
G. Joanne Yarde, the association’s new president who is an Assistant Commissioner of Health in New York City, said the Kaiso gene was “key to how cancer cells grow and spread, making her work an important part of advancing cancer research”.
She said Daniel’s death was a great loss but added: “Her work, her voice and her influence will endure.”
Joan Rowe, another Barbadian in North America who was a friend of the renowned biologist, said Daniel’s commitment to science and the results she recorded in the annals of cancer detection were simply astounding.
“Dr Daniel was thorough, kind, down-to-earth and committed to work. We are all indebted to her, this child of Barbados,” said Rowe, a Toronto resident and a former head girl of The St Michael School in the 1950s. “Her death is a significant blow to all of us.”
Breast cancer was part of Daniel’s family’s history. Her mother died from it and the researcher was later diagnosed with the disease, though it was declared in remission.
