At 15 years old, what began as a charity project for Romario Simpson, while a student at Meadowbrook High School in St Andrew, has catapulted him —now 29-year-old and a medical doctor — to a prestigious Commonwealth Youth Awardee prize for outstanding community work.

On March 12, Dr Simpson was among 19 youth awardees drawn from across the 66-nation British Commonwealth who proudly collected their prize during the presentation ceremony for the 2025 Commonwealth Youth Award for Excellence in Development Work at Marlborough House in London.

Commonwealth Secretary-Treasurer Baroness Patricia Scotland, KC hosted the award ceremony which also recognised top regional Caribbean winners, including another Jamaican, Nicholas Kee, and Stanley Anigbogu from Nigeria, the overall Commonwealth Youth Awardee of the Year.

Dr Simpson, currently a senior resident specialising in internal medicine at the University Hospital of the West Indies, was ecstatic about his award, saying he “especially treasured the opportunity provided by the ceremony for networking towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”, which he has embraced as a community-based youth leader.

“I have used the tenets of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as my guiding principle to bring about transformative social change within my community,” Dr Simpson told the Jamaica Observer upon his return from London.

The Observer has tracked Simpson’s charity career which started in 2010 as a member of the Optimist Club. In 2017, he founded the Destiny of Hope Foundation of Jamaica while still a UWI undergraduate student, two years before graduating medical school.

Through the Destiny of Hope Foundation he has worked collaboratively with numerous partners and key stakeholders in government, the private sector, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to promote the ideals of sustainable development and to advocate on social justice issues such as the reduction of crime, poverty and homelessness.

Dr Simpson, with his mother Lorencia Long-Simpson as his biggest cheer leader, devoted himself to uphold basic human rights; advocating for the social inclusion of Jamaica’s most vulnerable citizens; and increasing access to affordable and quality healthcare.

He explained that his projects are executed in partnership for the UN Sustainable Development Goals through four specific thematic areas: homelessness and poverty reduction; disabilities and health access; climate change and environmental protection; and peace and justice.

“Unfortunately, homelessness and poverty reduction is an issue plaguing Jamaica and the wider Caribbean,” he said, noting that it explained why his foundation has fed over 3,000 indigent individuals and donated numerous cheques to the Poor Relief Department of the Kingston & St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAC) and several drop-in shelters in Jamaica, to boost their feeding programme.

Dr Simpson’s Foundation has supported numerous volatile groups including the Sickle Cell Support Foundation of Jamaica, the Jamaica AIDS Support for Life, the McCam Development Centre for Autistic Children, and the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities.

In addition, he continues to host and participate in numerous community health fairs and wellness sessions in partnership with various NGOs such as Optimist International, the Optimist Club of Manor Park, and the Justices of the Peace Association in Jamaica.

His work in climate change and environmental protection is done mainly through advocacy, and Dr Simpson’s participation in various regional and global climate hackatons to develop a sustainable plan to tackle climate change.

His Caribbean-based team placed third and received a grant from the United States Embassy in Jamaica, which he has used to explore sustainable and resilient climate-smart agriculture through aquaponic and hydroponic technology.

Additionally, the youth leader has since ventured into a social enterprise centred on plastic waste reduction and recycling which received funding from the Democratizing Innovation in the Americas (DIA) Lab, Citi-Bank and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

Dr Simpson currently serves as the Chairman for the e-Biome Research Group, which is dedicated to promoting the STEM curriculum in the Caribbean. He has been a Commonwealth youth ambassador since 2018 and was officially appointed a justice of the peace of Jamaica in 2021.

Through both these organisations he has promoted the ideals of peace and restorative justice, and has worked in volatile communities hosting health fairs and educational sessions for Primary Exit Profile (PEP) exam and the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) exam.

Dr Simpson was previously awarded with a Prime Minister Youth Award for Excellence (2018), the coveted Governor-General’s Achievement Award (2020), the Sagicor Community Heroes Award (2021), the Ignite Caribbean 30Under30 Award (2020), Scientific Research Council Recognition for contribution to the STEM field, and numerous other accolades and recognitions.

It is in that context and record of service to his compatriots that Dr Simpson was invited to Marlborough House, the headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat to be recognised and awarded.