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File #: 210013    Version: 0 Name:
Type: Resolution Status: ADOPTED
File created: 1/28/2021 In control: CITY COUNCIL
On agenda: Final action: 2/4/2021
Title: Honoring and celebrating Philadelphia's Living Legends: Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, Rev. Gregory Holston, Rev. Mark Tyler, Deputy Police Commissioner Melvin Singleton, State Representative Joanna McClinton, and the Doctors of the Black Doctors Consortium, who were the "Guiding Lights" of the year 2020 and are trailblazers and leaders in their respective fields of medicine, research, politics, religion, the justice system and community outreach, as part of the commemoration of Black History Month.
Sponsors: Councilmember Jones, Councilmember Gilmore Richardson, Councilmember Henon, Councilmember Thomas, Councilmember Domb, Councilmember Brooks, Councilmember Squilla, Councilmember Johnson, Councilmember Bass, Councilmember Green
Attachments: 1. Resolution No. 21001300, 2. Signature21001300
Title
Honoring and celebrating Philadelphia's Living Legends: Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, Rev. Gregory Holston, Rev. Mark Tyler, Deputy Police Commissioner Melvin Singleton, State Representative Joanna McClinton, and the Doctors of the Black Doctors Consortium, who were the "Guiding Lights" of the year 2020 and are trailblazers and leaders in their respective fields of medicine, research, politics, religion, the justice system and community outreach, as part of the commemoration of Black History Month.

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WHEREAS, Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett is a scientist who was instrumental in the development of the COVID-19 vaccine. As one of the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Vaccine Research Center's experts, Dr. Corbett helped lead the team of scientists who developed the vaccine. The NIH has a partnership with the University of Pennsylvania, the NIH-Penn Immunology partnership, which allows students access to 350 immunology laboratories. From an early age, Dr. Corbett knew she wanted to make a difference through her passion for the science. She was selected as one of the esteemed participants for Project SEED, a program for gifted minority students that allowed her to study and hone her budding interest in the sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2004, Dr. Corbett attended the University of Maryland, Baltimore, as a Meyerhoff Scholar. Soon after, Dr. Corbett enrolled in a doctorate program at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where she also worked at a Graduate Research Assistant studying virus infections while earning a PhD in microbiology and immunology. Dr. Corbett stated that it was important to her to be visible as one of the key players who developed the COVID-19 vaccine and not simply be a hidden figure, because she wants to inspire and empower younger scientists and people of color; and

WHEREAS, Rev. Gregory Holston is a leader, pastor, and a community activist, who has committed his life to fighting for fairness and justic...

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