Kizzmekia Corbett, Hillsborough native and one of the lead scientists behind the development of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, has announced she’ll be assuming the role of assistant professor in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

With the goal of assisting the development of novel and possibly universal vaccines, Corbett will head the new Coronaviruses & Other Relevant Emerging Infectious Diseases Lab and study the interactivity between hosts’ immune systems and viruses that cause respiratory disease. She’ll also hold an appointment at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute as the Shtuzer Assistant Professor.

Corbett was raised in Hillsborough, graduated from Orange High School, and earned her doctorate at UNC’s Department of Microbiology and Immunology in 2014. Corbett has since then worked as a research fellow in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’  Vaccine Research Center, where she eventually came to help lead the development of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

Following the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the vaccine, Corbett received national recognition for her work and had days in her honor proclaimed in Hillsborough, Carrboro, and Orange County. Corbett has also been praised by NIAID director Anthony Fauci, president of the National Medical Association Oliver Brooks, President Joe Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris.

In January of this year, Corbett revealed she was being approached by UNC to join the university’s faculty. And while she’ll be taking her services to Harvard come June 14, Corbett is still joining Fauci to deliver UNC’s Spring Commencement address during each of the three smaller graduation ceremonies being held between May 14 and 16.

More information about Harvard’s decision to enlist Corbett can be found in the university’s press release.

Featured image via Evan Vucci/Associated Press

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