Kizzmekia Corbett

Kizzmekia Corbett, the scientific lead of the Vaccine Research Center’s coronavirus team at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, is widely recognized in the immunology community as a rising star. For the past six years, she has focused on coronavirus biology and vaccine development. During the pandemic, those years of research led to the discovery that a stabilized version of a spike protein found on the surface of all coronaviruses can be a key target for vaccines, treatments and diagnostics. She and her colleagues have been central to the development of the Moderna mRNA vaccine and the Eli Lilly therapeutic monoclonal antibody that were first to enter clinical trials in the U.S. and now have authorization for emergency use. As a result, her work will have a substantial impact on ending the worst respiratory-disease pandemic in more than 100 years.

Fauci is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the U.S. National Institutes of Health