Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett (1986 - )  Shortly after receiving her  PhD in Microbiology and Immunology, Dr. Corbett joined NIH as a postdoctoral fellow and an immunologist with the adjacent National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).  She began her research at NIH working on the development of vaccines for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), two types of coronaviruses. Along with members of her team, Dr. Corbett identified the “spike protein” in COVID-19, when the virus emerged in December 2019. The claw-like shape of the protein, the spike, permeates healthy human skin, infecting the person with the virus.

Because of that work, Dr. Corbett was chosen to lead the team of scientists who partnered with the biotechnology company Moderna in development of a promising vaccine that uses a genetic code sequence to prompt the body’s immune system to react when the spike protein is detected, thus blocking the infection process. In March, 2020, when a bill was signed authorizing an $8.3 billion dollar emergency coronavirus response, which included at least $3 billion for accelerated research, Corbett and the team tackled the job of developing a vaccine and treatment.

In addition to helping design the vaccine, Dr. Corbett led the preclinical studies for the Phase I clinical trial and worked to create the assays used to test clinical trial samples. During the Moderna vaccine trials, Corbett worked to ensure that people of color were included in the studies in numbers reflective of their proportion of the general population. In December of 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.

 In the spring of 2021, Dr. Corbett became an assistant professor of immunology and infectious diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, heading the Coronaviruses & Other Relevant Emerging Infectious Diseases (CoreID) Lab. She is also the Shutzer Assistant Professor at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute. 

Early Childhood and Education

Kizzmekia “Kizzy” Corbett was born on January 26, 1986, in Hurdle Mills, a rural North Carolina town. She was raised in Hillsborough, located near Durham and Chapel Hill, living with her mother, Rhonda Brooks, her stepfather and several siblings, including step and foster siblings.

The family recognized that Kizzmekia had a bright and inquisitive mind early on and noticed her strong determination and drive. “Kizzy was always like a detective,” her mother recalled. 

As a child, Dr. Corbett would describe her goal as being the first Black woman to win the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Her mother noted, “When she’s got her mind set on something, it’s set. She can do anything”.  Also apparent from childhood was Kizzmekia’s compassion and care for others, as reflected when she asked her mother, if a friend from school with nowhere to go, could come and stay at their home.

Dr. Corbett’s school teachers encouraged her family to look for opportunities to nurture and challenge their budding scientist. In high school, Corbett was selected for ProjectSEED, a summer program established by the American Chemical Society that provides opportunities for students from traditionally underrepresented groups to explore science careers. 

After graduating from high school, Corbett attended the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) with a full scholarship in the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, aimed at increasing diversity among future leaders in STEM. She also worked summers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the Vaccine Research Center. She worked in the lab of Dr. Barney Graham, who would later become a career mentor and her supervisor. In addition to her laboratory research studies and internships, Corbett also developed an interest in sociology.  She graduated in 2008 with a double major in biological sciences and sociology.

Dr. Corbett pursued her doctoral studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill studying antibody responses to dengue fever virus.  After receiving her PhD, she joined the NIH as a postdoctoral fellow. 

Awards

Dr. Corbett has received numerous awards, including The 2020 Golden Goose Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the 2020 Norman P. Salzman Memorial Award in Basic and Clinical Virology from the Foundation for National Institutes of Health, the 2020 Early Career Applied and Biotechnological Research Award from the American Society for Microbiology, the 2021 Benjamin Franklin NextGen Award from the Franklin Institute, and the 2021 African Americans in Health Care Award from Kaiser Permanente. 

Kizzmekia Corbett of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has been named “Federal Employee of the Year” along with her colleague Barney Graham for conducting groundbreaking research while working at the National Institute of Health’s Vaccine Research Center that led to the development of COVID-19 vaccines.Corbett and Graham are among 13 winners of the 2021 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America medals, which honor excellence in the federal workforce.

Kizzmekia Corbett, assistant professor of immunology and infectious diseases at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, was named one of the 2021 Bostonians of the Year by the Boston Globe for her pioneering research aimed at developing a COVID-19 vaccine and for creating an open dialogue about vaccines with a sometimes distrustful public.  A  December 15, 2021 article in the Globe described Corbett’s passion for science and her work at the National Institutes of Health researching coronavirus spike proteins and mRNA vaccine technology, which began long before the COVID-19 pandemic emerged and which proved critical to developing vaccines in record time.

Kizzmekia Corbett of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health was named one of four “heroes of the year” for 2021 by TIME magazine for helping develop the mRNA-based vaccine platform that enabled the creation of innovative and highly effective COVID-19 vaccines.Corbett, assistant professor of immunology and infectious diseases, worked on vaccine development while at the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as part of the team working with Barney Graham, former deputy director of the VRC. Graham was also named a TIME hero, as were biochemist Katalin Kariko and immunologist Drew Weissman, whose work also played a key role in the development of the mRNA platform.

 

 

In the same week last month we commemorated Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the anniversary of Roe v. Wade.  Those paying attention to these events thought of voting rights and Roe v. Wade but not necessarily as connected issues.  The following article in ESSENCE written by Malika Redmond helps you understand why the link between voting rights and reproductive rights are inextricable for Black women.

We should all echo Malika's words and make it our battle cry:  VOICE  AND  CHOICE.

For Black Women, The Fights For Roe v. Wade And Voting Rights Are Inextricable

ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE LANDMARK ROE V. WADE DECISION, MALIKA REDMOND, CO-FOUNDER & CEO OF WOMEN ENGAGED, DISCUSSES THE LINK BETWEEN VOTING RIGHTS AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS FOR BLACK WOMEN.

To honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s holiday, President Biden and Vice President Harris came to Atlanta with an agenda that prioritized speaking to Black voters on the campus of prominent HBCUs and The King Center, signaling the Administration’s commitment to upholding voting rights for the communities who made their victory and the shift in the balance of power in the U.S. Senate possible.

Black women led the efforts to create this historic change for political progress. As we consider the 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the threats to Black women’s rights—from the ballot box to our bodies—are grave. Georgia has taken center stage in both the fights for voting rights and reproductive rights.

We cannot look at these vital civil rights fights as separate crusades, rather we must see them as intertwined paths to justice.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is considered one of the most important pieces of civil rights legislation in our country’s history. One can argue that by opening the ability of the entire country to vote, we saw progressive breakthroughs in policy advancing economic mobility and equal opportunity. And less than a decade later came the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on Roe v. Wade on January 22, 1973 giving women the right to access abortion legally all across the country.

But this right doesn’t mean everyone has access. Roe v. Wade ruling remains a promise that has not been fully realized for Black women. Both the Hyde and Helms Amendments set in motion the strategy of using legislation to weaken the power of Roe and deprive poor women (disproportionately women of color) access to abortion.

Roe v. Wade now sits in a precarious state as the Supreme Court upheld a six-week abortion ban in Texas and has agreed to hear a case on a Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. It’s no accident that the fragility of Roe v. Wade is most felt in the South, when we look at the number of aggressive anti-voting and hostile abortion measures that have advanced year after year.

When we limit access to the ballot box for Black women and other women of color, we leave an open pathway to elect more conservative, anti-choice legislators. The results are alarming.

In Georgia, reproductive autonomy for Black women is often first on the chopping block for elected leaders. Following Stacey Abrams’ 2018 loss for governor, a loss that most would argue happened because of voting suppression to silence Black voting voices, the first attack was on reproductive justice. Once in office, Govenor Brian Kemp signed into law the “Forced Pregnancy Bill” six-week abortion ban. Though the law was ultimately blocked by the courts, it demonstrates that such radical legislation is in reach. 

Now in the midst of a global pandemic, Georgia leaders continue to leave many people without access to healthcare by refusing to expand Medicaid as promised in the Affordable Care Act. For Black women, often caregivers in the home and working daily outside of the home, this has been particularly challenging along with the depressing high rates of maternal mortality in southern states with the most restrictive abortion laws, combined with even more limited access to care in rural communities.

As evidenced in writings by scholars Dorothy Roberts and Harriet Washington on the history of medical racism in the U.S. and the response by Black women in defining reproductive justice by Loretta Ross, Black women’s bodies have long been disenfranchised from high quality healthcare. Today, Black women are less likely to have health insurance or are under insured, are more likely to be denied coverage for abortion and struggle to access and afford birth control.

When women cannot have reproductive autonomy, their quality of life is forever restricted. More than 59 percent of women who get an abortion are already parents. If Black women are not afforded the right to choose and have control over their family planning, everything—from their education, health and economic stability—pays a price. Access to abortion care and comprehensive reproductive healthcare, can and has saved lives and reduced the number of maternal-related deaths, especially in Black women still navigating a racist healthcare system.

As we move into the election season of 2022, this formula of voting patterns and reproductive justice policies remains but with greater national impact. As we look at how local political maps are drawn and the emergence of “election crime” measures, the race to limit voters of color is in full swing. Federally, the peril for upholding the filibuster and a conservative majority in the Supreme Court are one in the same: stifling voices. Black women are threatened to be kept the most silent. What comes next are the dangerous actions from elected officials to control and harm Black women’s bodies.

These threats and disparities are real. But Black women have always been responding to save our own lives. Through the leadership of women of color, we see points of resilience. Just this week Atlanta’s city council unanimously passed a resolution to support Roe v. Wade after recently establishing a Reproductive Justice Commission. But we need everyone all in. Voters and policy leaders everywhere must commit to ensure a new legacy for generations of Black women in the South and across the nation. To uphold and honor Black women is to push for the change that allows our full voice and choice. 

Malika Redmond is the Cofounder and CEO of Women Engaged, a near decade old initiative that develops the civic leadership of Black women, femmes, and girls through year round non-partisan voter engagement opportunities and reproductive justice advocacy. Follow her on Twitter: @malikaredmond @womenengaged