Mayor Lydia Lavelle has proclaimed Tuesday, Jan. 26, as Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett Day in the Town of Carrboro to honor the Orange County native who played a key role in developing one of the COVID-19 vaccines.
“We recognize her remarkable research and success in creating a vaccination to defeat the pandemic,” Mayor Lavelle said. “I urge all of the residents of Carrboro to take time to recognize and honor this outstanding achievement of one of Orange County’s own daughters.”
Tuesday, Jan. 26, will be special for another reason, also. Happy Birthday, Dr. Corbett!
Kizzmekia S. Corbett, PhD, is currently a research fellow in the Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory at the National Institutes of Health [NIH], National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases [NIAID], Vaccine Research Center. A viral immunologist by training, she was appointed to the Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory in 2014, and has focused her work on developing novel coronavirus vaccines, including mRNA-1273, which has become a primary vaccine against the virus that causes COVID-19.
Dr. Corbett was raised in the Cedar Grove community of Orange County. She attended A.L. Stanback Middle School and graduated from Orange High School. She received her Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences, with a secondary major in Sociology, in 2008, from the University of Maryland–Baltimore County, where she was a Meyerhoff Scholar and an NIH undergraduate scholar; and earned her Doctorate of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in 2014.
Dr. Corbett has been acknowledged by Dr. Anthony Fauci, NIAID Director, for her research and results in the development of a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, and is now receiving national acclaim.
Read the entire proclamation that details the outstanding achievements of Dr. Corbett at https://www.townofcarrboro.org/DocumentCenter/View/8644/2021-Dr-Corbett-Day
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