This young, Black, female scientist who graduated from UNC leads efforts to find a COVID-19 vaccine

Posted Jun 30, 2020
As a teenager growing up in Hillsborough, Kizzmekia Corbett had never seen a Black scientist before. Then she walked into a lab at UNC one summer, met Albert Russell, a doctoral student, and for the first time believed she could be one. Now, at 34, Corbett is the scientific lead for the government’s search for a coronavirus vaccine at the National Institutes of Health. (Greensboro News & Record)

Related: Campus Connections

Archaeological digs at UNC's New East yield centuries-old relics
On a sunny morning in late April, a group of North Carolina faculty and students hunched down on the ground outside New East and sifted...
Wed Nov 12, 2025

James Blizzard is living out his Carolina dream
When James Rolf Blizzard ’24 was 5 years old, his dad took him to a Carolina basketball game at the Smith Center. There Rolf Blizzard...
Mon Nov 10, 2025

Carolina Brewery Celebrates 30 Years
Few Tar Heels have a pedigree as lengthy as Robert Poitras, a fourth-generation UNC alum who grew up tailgating at Kenan Stadium and cheering on...
Sun Nov 9, 2025

Meet 10 Tar Heel military heroes
UNC has a longstanding history of supporting veterans on campus. Before or after they served their country, they spent time in Chapel Hill learning from...
Sat Nov 8, 2025