Jeffrey L. Bada (born September 10, 1942) is an American chemist known for his works in the study of the origin of life. He is Distinguished Research Professor of Marine Chemistry and former Director of the NASA Specialized Center of Research and Training (NSCORT) in Exobiology at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego. Bada has played a pioneering role in the development of the Mars Organic Detector (MOD) instrument package that is designed to search for amino acids and other organic compounds directly on the surface of Mars during future ESA and NASA missions.