Appointed to the VRC in 2014, Corbettt-Helaire was a postdoctoral scientist of the VRC's COVID-19 Team,[8] with research efforts aimed atCOVID-19 vaccines.[9][10] In February 2021, Corbettt-Helaire was highlighted inTime's "Time100 Next" list[11] under the category ofInnovators, with a profile written byAnthony Fauci.[12]
Corbettt-Helaire went to Oak Lane Elementary School inRoxboro[14] and A.L. Stanback Middle School in Hillsborough.[13][15] Her fourth grade teacher, Myrtis Bradsher, recalls recognizing Corbettt-Helaire's talent at an early age and encouraging Kizzy's mother to place her in advanced classes. "I always thought she is going to do something one day. She dotted i's and crossed t's. The best in my 30 years of teaching," Bradsher said in a 2020 interview withThe Washington Post.[14]
While in high school, Corbettt-Helaire realized that she wanted to pursue a scientific career, and as part of anAmerican Chemical Society-sponsored program called Project SEED, spent her summer holiday working in research laboratories, one of which was at UNC's Kenan Labs with organic chemist James Morkin.[1][5][13] In 2005, she was a summer intern atStony Brook University in Gloria Viboud's lab where she studiedYersinia pseudotuberculosis pathogenesis. From 2006 to 2007, she worked as a lab tech in Susan Dorsey's lab at theUniversity of Maryland School of Nursing.[14]
After earning her bachelor's degree, from 2006 to 2009, Corbettt-Helaire was a biological sciences trainer at theNational Institutes of Health (NIH), where she worked alongsideBarney S. Graham. At the NIH, Corbett-Helaire worked on the pathogenesis ofrespiratory syncytial virus as well as on a project focused on innovative vaccine platform advancement.[1]
Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett-Helaire (far right) with PresidentDonald Trump, Dr.Anthony Fauci, and Dr.Francis Collins during Trump’s visit to the NIH Vaccine Research Center on March 3, 2020.Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett-Helaire (far right) with PresidentJoe Biden, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Dr. Francis Collins during Biden’s visit to the NIH Vaccine Research Center on February 11, 2021.
From 2009 to 2014, Corbettt-Helaire studied human antibody responses todengue virus inSri Lankan children under the supervision of Aravinda de Silva atUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-Chapel Hill).[7][18] She studied how people produce antibodies in response to dengue fever, and how the genetics of dengue fever impact the severity of a disease. From April to May 2014, as part of her research for her dissertation, Corbettt-Helaire worked as a visiting scholar at Genetech Research Institute inColombo, Sri Lanka.[1]
In October 2014, Corbettt-Helaire became a research fellow working as a viral immunologist at the NIH. Her research aims to uncover mechanisms of viral pathogenesis and host immunity.[15] She specifically focuses on development of novel vaccines forcoronaviridae.[15] Her early research considered the development ofSevere Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) andMiddle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) vaccine antigens.[19][20] During this time, she identified a simple way to makecoronavirus spike proteins that are stabilized in a conformation that renders them more immunogenic and manufacturable, in collaboration with researchers atScripps Research Institute and Dartmouth College.[21]
In December 2021, Corbettt-Helaire was assigned to Boston's COVID-19 advisory committee by mayorWu.[22]
At the onset of theCOVID-19 pandemic, Corbettt-Helaire started working on a vaccine to protect people fromcoronavirus disease.[5] Recognizing that the virus was similar tosevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, Corbett's team utilized previous knowledge of optimal coronavirus proteins to tackle COVID-19.[23][24] S proteins form a "crown" on the surface of coronaviruses and are crucial for engagement of host cell receptors and the initiation of membrane fusion in coronavirus disease. This makes them a particularly vulnerable target for coronavirus prophylactics and therapeutics. Based on her previous research, Corbettt-Helaire's team, in collaboration withJason McLellan and other investigators atThe University of Texas at Austin,[25] transplanted stabilizing mutations from SARS-CoV S protein into SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.[21] She was part of the NIH team who helped solve thecryogenic electron microscopy (CryoEM) structure of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.[26] Her prior research suggested thatmessenger RNA (mRNA) encoding S protein could be used to excite the immune response to produce protective antibodies against coronavirus disease 2019.[21][27]
To manufacture and test theCOVID-19 vaccine Corbettt-Helaire's team partnered withModerna, a biotechnology company, to rapidly enter animal studies. Subsequently, the vaccine enteredPhase 1 clinical trial only 66 days after the virus sequence was released. The trial, to be completed in at least 45 people, is a dose escalation study in the form of two injections separated by 28 days.[28] In December 2020, the Institute's Director,Anthony Fauci said: "Kizzy is an African American scientist who is right at the forefront of the development of the vaccine."[29] In the Time's profile, Fauci wrote that Corbettt-Helaire has "been central to the development of theModerna mRNA vaccine and the Eli Lilly therapeutic monoclonal antibody that were first to enter clinical trials in the U.S." and that "her work will have a substantial impact on ending the worst respiratory-disease pandemic in more than 100 years."[12] Corbettt-Helaire's work afforded her the opportunity to be a part of the National Institutes of Health team that hadDonald Trump at theDale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center in March 2020.[6][30][31][32] When asked about her involvement with the development of the COVID-19 vaccine, Corbett said, "To be living in this moment where I have the opportunity to work on something that has imminent global importance…it's just a surreal moment for me".[33][34] Corbett stated she cried when the efficacy results showed the mRNA-1273 Moderna vaccine worked.[35]
Corbettt-Helaire called for the public to be cautious and respectful of one another during the COVID-19 pandemic, explaining that regular hand washing and sneezing into one's elbow can help to minimize the spread of the virus. She has also emphasized that we should not stigmatize people who may be from areas where the virus started.[13]
Corbettt-Helaire has worked to rebuild trust withvaccine-hesitant populations such as the Black community.[36][37][38] For example, she presented education about the COVID-19 vaccine development to Black Health Matters in October 2020.[39][40] Her race has been a focus of government outreach; after a study released by theNAACP and others revealed that only 14% of black Americans believe a COVID-19 vaccine will be safe, NIAID Director Fauci was explicit: "the first thing you might want to say to my African American brothers and sisters is that the vaccine that you're going to be taking was developed by an African American woman."[41]
In May 2020,The Washington Post reported that Corbettt-Helaire had been scrutinized for tweets lamenting the lack of diversity on theWhite House Coronavirus Task Force, as well as for her responses to other tweets about data that African Americans were disproportionately dying from the virus. Responding to a tweet in which someone else claimed that the virus "is a way to get rid of us," Corbettt-Helaire responded: "Some have gone as far to call it genocide. I plead the fifth.".[14]Fox News news hostTucker Carlson read several of Corbettt-Helaire's tweets on his show, accusing her of "spouting lunatic conspiracy theories."[14] AnotherFox News article said she "adopts a strikingly casual and conspiratorial tone."[42] After the controversy, Corbett scaled back her use of social media and stopped appearing on television.[14]Texas Southern University professorRobert Bullard and president of theNational Medical Association (an organization of Black physicians) Oliver Brooks defended Corbettt-Helaire overall, although Brooks expressed concern about her tweet on genocide, saying "It's subjective. I wouldn't want to go there. I really don't believe that. We're dying at a higher rate but … that one just doesn't fit.".[14]
Corbett-Helaire has criticized science's lack of connection with society, and Black people in particular:[43]
"Why are we thinking about institutes within the brick walls … when our science and our reach is supposed to go beyond that?" she asked, pointing out that Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health sits in a Black neighborhood but has little connection to it. "There are so many things about how we have built silos and walls that absolutely and unfortunately do not benefit Black people."
She believes it is important to retain one's identity when working in science and in academia: "Keeping those cultural markers prominent — playingJeezy in the lab, wearingbraids to PhD interviews, as Corbett-Helaire recalled — is a way of showing that Black people and Black culture absolutely belong in academic spaces. 'We need to be ourselves and allow the institutions to shape around who we are'".[43]
TWiV 670: Coronavirus vaccine preparedness with Kizzmekia Corbett October 8, 2020. Kizzmekia Corbett joins TWiV to review her career and her work on respiratory syncytial virus, influenza virus, and coronaviruses and coronavirus vaccines, including her role in development and testing of a spike-encoding mRNA vaccine.
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