Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett Awarded the 2021 Green Sands Prize for Her Contributions to Science and Development of Moderna Vaccine
27.12.2021 20:00:00 EET | Business Wire | Press release
As an organization founded on the principles of accelerating human progress, Green Sands Equity strives to engage and encourage individuals or organizations that show potential for excellence and profound impact on the world. Often, the likelihood of realizing excellence and impact is tied to opportunity. With global scale, Green Sands leadership believes that they bear a social responsibility to aid such extraordinary individuals or organizations to realize their greatest potential. Accordingly, the Green Sands Prize was established to provide recipients with partnership, funding, and connectivity to our network. Green Sands Prize is not just a celebration of excellence but the anticipation of it. Green Sands believes that the prize recipients best work and impact lie ahead.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211222005010/en/
"I would like for every little girl to look at me and say, 'I can be a scientist too.' I want my legacy to be in inspiration. And, while inspiring, I would like to clear away barriers that keep many young girls from achieving at the highest of levels, making the world aware that women are worthy." --Kizzmekia Corbett (Photo: Business Wire)
Biennially, Green Sands, under the direction of Chairwoman Reema Khan, sets the target focus area for the prize, by which a nomination committee consisting of subject matter experts and key opinion leaders is assembled. The first Green Sands Prize was awarded in 2019 to a climate and civil rights leader and entrepreneur, Tenzin Seldon. This year, the target focus area was appropriately the COVID-19 pandemic. The nomination committee, consisting of top biotech CEOs, scientists and epidemiologists, selected Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett as the 2021 recipient.
"My hope for the Green Sands Prize is to elevate and advance meaningful work of extraordinary individuals, and to eventually build a community of Green Sands Prize Laureates who have one quality in common despite their disparate fields of work —their remarkable determination and resolve to better our world. The prize has no subject area focus, but we have a clear focus on the values of being constructive and generous to our world. Indeed, we live in a time of interdisciplinary breakthroughs and perspectives, only time will tell what seemingly immovable boundaries these Laureates will break,” remarked Reema Khan.
"I would like for every little girl to look at me and say ‘I can be a scientist too.’ I want my legacy to be an inspiration. And, while inspiring, I would like to clear away barriers that keep many young girls from achieving at the highest of levels. Making the world aware that women are worthy.” – Kizzmekia Corbett
In 2020 when COVID-19 was spreading globally, Dr. Corbett was a research fellow and the scientific lead for the Coronavirus Vaccines & Immunopathogenesis Team at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The vaccine concept incorporated in the mRNA-1273 was designed by Dr. Corbett’s NIH team. In an unprecedented 66 days, her team released the viral sequence which was rapidly deployed to Moderna, Inc., for the Phase 1 clinical trial. The mRNA-1273 was later shown to be 94.1% effective in a Phase 3 trial and was authorized for use in multiple countries. Alongside the mRNA-1273, Dr. Corbett boasts a patent portfolio which includes universal coronavirus and influenza vaccine concepts and novel therapeutic antibodies.
Today, Dr. Corbett is an Assistant Professor of immunology and infectious diseases at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Shutzer Assistant Professor at Harvard’s Radcliff Institute of Advanced Study, and Associate Member of the Phillip T. and Susan M. Ragon Institute. At Harvard, Dr. Corbett is studying viral immunology to inform vaccine development. “In going back to the fundamentals, I’ll be broadening my horizons beyond just coronaviruses to explore other viral families. I want to do what we did with coronaviruses—create a solid body of knowledge for other viruses so that the world has information at hand to quickly and safely develop vaccines. That concept is called ‘pandemic preparedness,’ and that’s really what my lab here will be focusing on.” stated Dr. Corbett.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211222005010/en/
Contact information
Samantha Webber
info@greensandsequity.com
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
REV Ocean Appoints Paul Baribault as CEO Ahead of 2027 Global Operations29.10.2026 16:45:00 EET | Press release
REV Ocean has appointed Paul Baribault as Chief Executive Officer as the organization moves towards the international debut of its 195-metre research vessel in Rio de Janeiro in April 2027, alongside the UN Ocean Decade Conference. One of the world's largest privately owned research and exploration vessels, REV represents a major philanthropic investment in ocean science. With nine laboratories, advanced deep-sea exploration vehicles and dedicated collaboration facilities, it is designed to give scientists access to world-class research infrastructure and connect their discoveries with the people and institutions able to drive ocean protection. Baribault joins as REV Ocean moves from a decade of engineering and construction into international operations. His mandate will be to build the international partnerships, funding base and organization needed to turn REV Ocean’s scientific capabilities into lasting ocean impact. An experienced conservation and nonprofit leader, Baribault served
Holder Partners Launches Strategic Communications Practice and Appoints Ali Ponte as Director and Practice Lead29.10.2026 16:15:00 EET | Press release
Holder Partners, a multidisciplinary consulting and advisory firm, today announced the launch of its Strategic Communications practice and the appointment of Ali Ponte as Director and Practice Lead. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261027701219/en/ Ali Ponte, Director and Practice Lead of Holder Partners’ Strategic Communications practice. The practice advises leading companies and institutions, their boards, senior executives and counsel on communications, reputation and stakeholder considerations in complex matters and periods of significant change or opportunity. Each engagement is tailored to the client’s objectives and, where relevant, draws on Holder Partners’ broader advisory capabilities. Its strategic counsel, informed by research and analysis, helps clients assess the implications of a matter, anticipate stakeholder responses and communicate clearly and effectively. That work includes crisis preparedn
Accertify Formalizes Partner Ecosystem as Fraud, Payments, and Chargebacks Converge Into a Single Risk Surface29.10.2026 16:00:00 EET | Press release
Accertify, a leading fraud decisioning provider whose Predictive Yes Platform helps merchants say yes to more good customers, more revenue, and more growth, today announced the launch of the Accertify Partner Program, a formalized partnership ecosystem connecting payment providers, orchestrators, commerce platforms, and consultancies to Accertify’s network-powered fraud intelligence. Partners can join through two tracks. The Referral track lets partners make a single introduction while Accertify handles the sale, implementation, and support. The Reseller track lets partners sell Accertify on their own contract and own the client relationship and margin. Partners that integrate with Accertify follow a defined certification path, so clients get a tested, supported connection from day one. Every client a partner brings joins a consortium where good customers verified anywhere in the network get through faster everywhere, and bad actors seen anywhere are stopped everywhere. In 2025, Accert
Draslovka to Acquire ex-Natron Energy Battery IP, Completing a Vertically Integrated Western Sodium-Ion Value Chain29.10.2026 15:30:00 EET | Press release
Draslovka’s US-based subsidiary, COVORO MINING SOLUTIONS LLC (Covoro), the operator of one of the largest solid sodium cyanide plants in the world, today announced that it has agreed to acquire the intellectual property portfolio in Prussian Blue Analogue (PBA) and Prussian White Analogue (PWA) sodium-ion battery technology originally developed by Natron Energy. Prussian Blue and Prussian White Analogues are not a single material but a tunable family of framework materials, and the portfolio protects that family across the whole stack — active-material synthesis, electrodes, electrolytes, cell design and manufacturing, as well as complete battery systems — through issued and pending patents, trademarks, and manufacturing know-how, with protection extending into the mid-2040s. The agreement covers intellectual property and intangible assets only and was subject to review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which granted clearance as a condition to closin
Veracode Finds First Meaningful Gain in AI Code Security Since 2025 as Average Pass Rate Hits 62%29.10.2026 15:27:00 EET | Press release
Veracode, the global leader in application risk management, today announced a jump from 56 percent to 62 percent in overall AI-generated code security, alongside a drop in vulnerabilities from 44 percent to 38 percent — the most significant improvement since the GenAI Code Security Report series began in July 2025. Anthropic's Claude Opus 5.5 and OpenAI's GPT-6-Sol co-lead the rankings at 73 percent, surpassing the previous high of 68 percent set by GPT-5.5 in July 2026. “We’ve been analysing code generated by multiple LLMs for more than a year. Until now, we have not seen a marked improvement in AI code security, despite consistently near-perfect functionality,” said Chris Wysopal, Co-founder & Chief Security Evangelist at Veracode. “This is the first time since running our study that we’ve been able to report a meaningful move on the security dial. Ten models now clear 60 percent, up from four in the last report, and the overall average has jumped six percentage points. With around h
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom