Kizzmekia Corbett

North Carolina · born or raisedBorn 1986

American immunologist (1986-)

Born in Hurdle Mills
Lived in Chapel Hill
Lived in Hillsborough
Lived in Hurdle Mills
Studied at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Studied at Orange High School
Worked at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

immunologist, researcher, vaccinologist

Recorded without a firm citation

Kept here, labelled, rather than mixed in above.

We talk about purpose a lot, whether it be in the church or in academic institutions ... I had to step back and just say, ‘Who else?’

People at the N.I.H. would have overlooked Black women if I failed. Being the first in so many kinds of these spaces has so much pressure

I felt like there was no room for mistakes, which was difficult because science – mistakes are actually part of the beauty of it. Not necessarily tons of mistakes, but you learn a lot from things that don’t necessarily always go right with experiments. But in this case, we only had the bandwidth to learn from things that were going to go right. Otherwise, you lost time and people died.

I would say that my role as a scientist is really about my passion and purpose for the world and for giving back to the world.

If you can unwind and be true to who you are, it helps to reckon with things. My team is responding to the world’s most devastating global pandemic in the last hundred years. And so, there’s something to be said about knowing who you are.

I felt like it was necessary to be seen and to not be a hidden figure so to speak.