March is Women’s History Month to celebrate and honor the contributions women have made in American history. Beginning as a local celebration in California, the movement spread to other parts of the country, leading to President Carter signing the first declaration of Women’s History Week in 1980. Congress passed legislation seven years later designating the whole month of March as Women’s History Month and this as been authorized by
subsequent presidents.
This March also feels historic as the two-year mark of the COVID-19 pandemic happens with a world that is showing signs of returning to normal. In part, this progress is due to the contributions of many scientists and people working to find ways to stop transmission or decrease the symptoms of COVID-19 during this historic time. Two women who played significant roles in developing the science used for the COVID-19 vaccines are Dr. Katalin
Karikó and Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett.
Dr. Katalin Karikó’s career has been dedicated to researching messenger RNA (mRNA) and how to use mRNA to deliver therapies. Her interest in mRNA began in 1985 when scientists were still at work learning about what mRNA does in the human body. She worked in laboratories trying to answer basic questions about it and continued to learn more about how mRNA could be used to direct specific messages in the body. She continued her work beginning with investigating the use of mRNA to treat stroke patients and leading to researching its use in cancer treatment, Dr. Karikó’s work provided the
foundation for the development of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett got her start as an immunologist wanting to focus on vaccine development. Beginning her career in 2014, she focused on researching different kinds of coronaviruses, which are a type of virus, at the National Institute of Health (NIH). Dr. Corbett quickly moved into leading the NIH’s team on coronaviruses. Her work there focused on researching the biology of coronaviruses to further scientific understanding of how they work as well as development of vaccines against coronaviruses. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, Dr. Corbett got to work, eventually identifying the spike protein that is used as the target for COVID-19 vaccines.
The contributions from these women in science have not only helped us during this pandemic but will likely continue to
provide foundational work towards future scientific developments.