Badawi grew up in Egypt, where she trained in paediatrics and neonatology.[2] After spending time living in Dublin, Ireland, Badawi relocated to Australia in 1992 to undertake a Ph.D under the supervison of Fiona Stanley at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Perth.[3]
In 1997, Badawi moved to Sydney and took up the position of head of the Grace Centre for Newborn Care at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, now called the Children's Hospital at Westmead.[3]
In 2009, Cerebral Palsy Alliance appointed Badawi as Australia's first Chair of Cerebral Palsy, at the University of Notre Dame Australia, to supervise projects funded by the Research Foundation of Cerebral Palsy Alliance. In 2015, the position moved to the Sydney Medical School at the University of Sydney.[4]
In 2015, Badawi co-established the International Cerebral Palsy Research Foundation in the USA. She is a significant contributor to the Australian Cerebral Palsy Register Group, a national register held by the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Institute.[1]
