Profile in Courage: Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett

During what is supposed to be a merry time spent with family, the coronavirus has wrought a terrible toll. With now more than 3,000 daily deaths across the country, there are countless hospitalizations and widespread economic calamity. Fortunately, scores of talented scientists have produced multiple vaccines capable of finally beating back the virus. One such researcher, viral immunologist Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, worked tirelessly to help accomplish a feat that would ordinarily have taken a decade. Through her collaborations with private industry, Dr. Corbett used her knowledge and training of microbiology and immunology to help produce an mRNA vaccine that can defeat the deadly disease. And for accomplishing this incredible feat in record time, Dr. Corbett is truly a Profile in Courage.

When asked in interviews, famed individuals will often point to a professional role model who preceded them and gave them the inspiration they needed to be who they would become. But this was a trickier proposition for Dr. Corbett, who wanted to get into a field that didn’t exactly look like her. As The News & Reporter contributor Kate Murphy notes, “As a teenager growing up in Hillsborough, [North Carolina,] Kizzmekia Corbett had never seen a Black scientist before.” This changed, however, when she met fellow PhD student Albert Russell in the lab while completing her doctorate at the University of North Carolina.

Dr. Corbett recounts, “Al was a Black man. At such an impressionable age, seeing, through him, that becoming a scientist was an attainable goal was what stood out to me the most. This left me with an understanding of the necessity of visible representation in underserved communities, and the realization that one’s approach to mentorship is equally as important as (or arguably more important than) their approach to scientific discovery.” Corbett realized from that point on not just that she could succeed as a person of color in the scientific world, but also the need to pay it forward and be an inspiration to the next generation.

This drive and determination led to her current role as a leading scientist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where she has been studying coronaviruses for the past six years. Dr. Corbett hit the ground running at the NIH, studying viruses such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. Insights from her years in the laboratory proved invaluable as COVID-19 rapidly spread across the globe. Dr. Corbett and her team wasted no time studying the virus, and human trials commenced just two months after the virus was sequenced. As Dr. Corbett and her team were busy trying to understand the virus and figure out how to prevent it, the world grappled with the worst pandemic in 100 years. Business shuttered and unemployment surged above 14 percent. Suicides spiked and patients died alone with no one allowed to attend their funerals. But there’s hope on the horizon, thanks in large part to the scientific accomplishments of Dr. Corbett and the private companies she worked with.

And even while Dr. Corbett was buried in her work, she never stopped reaching out and being a role model for aspiring young scientists. She explains, “I make it my duty to particularly mentor people of diverse underrepresented backgrounds, to support inclusive environments and to volunteer for programs that bring STEM awareness to young curious minds. For example, I have mentored students in the National Institutes of Health HiStep 2.0 program, because I understand how important early exploration is.” Dr. Corbett has also accomplished the unthinkable by having a Twitter account that…doesn’t spread misinformation and divisiveness. NIH’s star scientist uses the platform to disseminate scientific insights and highlight the challenges facing the African American community. Maybe a politician or two could learn from her example. For being a light amid the darkness and helping the world conquer the coronavirus, Dr. Corbett is absolutely a Profile in Courage.