Kizzmekia S. Corbett PhD

Kizzmekia Corbett is a research fellow at the NIH Vaccine Research Center. Her scientific career began at University of Maryland – Baltimore County (UMBC), where she was a Meyerhoff Scholar and a NIH undergraduate scholar. She received a BS in Biological Sciences, with a secondary major in Sociology, in 2008. After one year of post-baccalaureate training at NIH, she enrolled at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), from where she obtained her PhD in Microbiology and Immunology in 2014. Her dissertation research, “Dissecting Human Antibody Responses to Dengue Virus Infection”, garnered her several awards including a Doctoral Merit Award and induction into UNC’s Frank Porter Graham Honor Society. Notably, she also received a travel fellowship to complete part of her dissertation project in Sri Lanka. A viral immunologist by training, Dr. Corbett’s research interests entail elucidating mechanisms of viral pathogenesis and host immunity as they pertain to vaccine development. Appointed to the NIH Vaccine Research Center in 2014, she now focuses on assessing and improving the immunogenicity of novel vaccine platforms for coronaviruses and influenza. In addition to research, Dr. Corbett invests much of her time bringing STEM awareness to youth in local underserved communities through mentorship and volunteering. Combining her scientific interests with her knack for mentoring, she hopes to one day become an independent principal investigator.