Thank you! Living in a time where vaccine skepticism is high among African Americans, I hope Black people will put faith in the vaccine and in the scientists working behind the scenes to bring it to the American people. And, I know that years from now, it will much larger.
Corbett, your understanding of the socio-cultural issues and your knowledge of science will make you an influential person in the scientific community. I just know it.
March 2020
Thank you, President Donald Trump! My team and I are soon going to begin the first stage of clinical trials. We have utilized the knowledge we have gained in the last six years and have applied it to this vaccine platform in collaboration with Moderna.
Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, you are the key to this life-saving mission!
Vaccine Research Center
Thank you. I am honored to be someone to help the world in many different aspects.
I am so proud of you for being the Black female to be leading the vaccine research. You are making a difference not many people see, just yet.
Example: In 1931, Scientists conducted the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, a study by the Public Health Service and Tuskegee Institute. It examined the progression of Syphilis by letting infected Black Men go untreated, with no regard to the suffering it caused.
January 2021
Kizzmekia did not only make an impact on the world but specifically on the area of equal human rights. This is as 18% of all students who graduate with a STEM degree, around only 2% are Black (National Center for Education Statistics).
National Institutes of Health
Thank you, Dr. Anthony Fauci. I feel accomplished not only for myself, but for who I represent. When people see me, a Black woman, in this industry, succeeding, it gives them hope. Specifically Black women. It also gives me hope. Dr. Barney Graham, my Mentor and Boss as Deputy Director of the Vaccine Research Center, would be proud of me.
Example: When the removal of special cells of Henretta Lacks, a Baltimore, Maryland, Cancer patient in 1951, a research team at Johns Hopkins University removed Lacks' cells without her permission and used them in medical research worth billions of dollars. Lacks' died of cancer and her family was never compensated.
University of Maryland, Baltimore
As I have been President of the school for 30 years, I knew you were exceptionally strong in science. You were able to connect to people at 17, and now 17 years later.
The Vaccine teaches the body how to fend off a virus, such as COVID-19. It teaches the body how to look for the virus by displaying to the body the spike protein of the virus. The body is then familiar with fighting that protein and is able to battle against it and win.
The Vaccine is finally out! All of my hard work has paid off!
Yay! You deserve all of the visibility you can get! You cannot be a hidden figure. You need to be in textbooks. People, and especially little girls, of all races, need to see you and what's possible!
As of January 9, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that more than 6.5 million Americans have received their first dose of the COVID-19 Vaccine. Though that number is expected to grow daily, it is well behind what public health experts were hoping to see.
Dr. Corbett, as I am the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, I would like to honor your hard work for this country.
As being the only Black female, African American, 34-year-old Scientist at the forefront of the COVID-19 vaccine development, Corbett never knew the difference she would make as her work is what she loves.
Attending this school as a Meyerhoff Scholar, which is an agressive program that mentors minorities and women in science, has made a key difference in my life. Additionally as graduates of this program include Surgeon General Jerome Adams. Thank you, Dr. Freeman Hrabowski.