Rhonda Brooks gave birth to Kizzmekia “Kizzy” Shanta Corbett on January 26, 1986, in Hurdle Mills, North Carolina. She was raised in Hillsborough, North Carolina, where she was part of a sizable family that included both biological and foster siblings.
When Corbett was a senior in high school, she decided she wanted to pursue a career in science. As part of a Project SEED program sponsored by the American Chemical Society, she spent her summer vacation working in research labs, one of which was at UNC’s Kenan Labs with organic chemist James Morkin.
She worked as a summer intern in Gloria Viboud’s lab at Stony Brook University in 2005, where she researched the pathogenesis of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. She served as a lab technician in Susan Dorsey’s lab at the University of Maryland School of Nursing from 2006 to 2007.
Corbett worked with Dr Barney S. Graham at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a biological sciences trainer from 2006 to 2009 after receiving her bachelor’s degree. Corbett worked at the NIH. on a project focused on the development of a new vaccination platform as well as on the pathophysiology of the respiratory syncytial virus.
Under the direction of Aravinda de Silva, Corbett conducted research on human antibody responses to the dengue virus in Sri Lankan children from 2009 to 2014 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-Chapel Hill). She investigated how the immune system reacts to Dengue Fever and how the disease’s genetics affect how severe it is. To conduct research for her dissertation, Corbett served as a visiting scholar at the Genetech Research Institute in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from April to May 2014.
Corbett started working as a research fellow and virus immunologist at the NIH in October 2014. Her study is intended for a project aimed at advancing a novel vaccination platform as well as research into the pathophysiology of the respiratory syncytial virus.
Corbett conducted research on human antibody responses to the dengue virus in Sri Lankan children from 2009 to 2014 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill under the direction of Aravinda de Silva (UNC-Chapel Hill). She looked at how people respond to dengue fever by producing antibodies and how the genetics of the illness affects how severe it is. Corbett served as a visiting scholar at the Genetech Research Institute in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from April to May 2014 as a part of her dissertation study.
A leading vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, mRNA-1273, was developed for pandemic preparedness with the help of Dr Corbett’s expertise in viral immunology. Dr Corbett’s NIH team created the vaccine concept used in mRNA-1273 from the viral sequence and quickly deployed it to industry partner Moderna, Inc. for the Phase 1 clinical study, which started unusually quickly—only 66 days after the viral sequence was released. In a Phase 3 trial, mRNA-1273 was found to be 94.1 per cent effective and has international usage approval. Dr Corbett also holds patents for innovative therapeutic antibodies, universal coronavirus and influenza vaccine ideas, and mRNA-1273.
Overall, she has more than 15 years of expertise researching coronaviruses, influenza, respiratory syncytial, and dengue viruses. She has won numerous important prizes, including the Salzman Memorial Prize in Virology and the Benjamin Franklin Next Gen Award. Corbett earned her diploma from Hillsborough, North Carolina’s Orange High School in 2004.
The White House Coronavirus Task Force’s lack of diversity has been criticized in tweets sent by Corbett, according to The Washington Post, which also revealed that her responses to other tweets about statistics showing that African Americans were disproportionately dying from the virus had drawn attention. Someone else tweeted that the virus “is a way to get rid of us,” to which Corbett replied, “Some have gone as far to call it genocide. I enter a fifth plea.”
Corbett’s tweets were read aloud on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News program, and he accused her of “spouting insane conspiracy theories.” She “adopts a shockingly nonchalant and conspiratorial tone,” according to another Fox News piece. Corbett decreased her use of social media after the issue.
Corbett graduated with a B.S. in biological sciences and sociology from the Meyerhoff Scholars Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) in 2008. Corbett is one of a group of recent UMBC graduates who have become well-known in the field of biomedicine during the COVID-19 epidemic, along with Kaitlyn Sadtler.
The University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill awarded Corbett a PhD in microbiology and immunology in 2014. Corbett conducted research for her dissertation work in Sri Lanka on the function of human antibodies in dengue virus pathogenesis.
Dr Corbett devotes a significant amount of her time to marginalised communities as an advocate for STEM education and vaccine awareness, fusing her research objectives with her talent for mentoring. Corbett attended A.L. Stanback Middle School in Hillsborough and Oak Lane Elementary School in Roxboro. Myrtis Bradsher, Corbett’s fourth-grade teacher, recalled spotting Corbett’s aptitude at a young age and urging Kizzy’s mother to enrol her in challenging programs. “I always thought she is going to achieve something one day. She crossed her t’s and dotted her i’s. my 30 years of teaching, the best,” in a 2020 interview with The Washington Post, Bradsher remarked.
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