Fri 8/13 @ 7PM
The Cleveland Museum of Natural History kicks off its four-event Centennial Speaker Series, featuring speakers who “embody the museum’s vision for the future: To explore, engage, and empower for a better tomorrow,” with a program highly relevant to today.
Dr. Kizzmekia S. Corbett, recently appointed Assistant Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, as been studying viruses, including coronaviruses, for 16 years and contributing to the development of novel vaccines to combat pandemics. She was involved in last year’s development of the vaccine to fight COVID-19. She’ll talk about “The Race to the COVID-19 Vaccine: Then & Now.” Unfortunately, she won’t be able to answer why some lunkhead in Branson, Missouri watched a YouTube video and now thinks he knows more about vaccines than she does.
“These speakers have all done a tremendous job of sharing what we know about different aspects of natural history, while also pushing the envelope to get us to either rethink or approach them in different ways,” says Allison Grazia, the Museum’s Manager of Public Engagement. . “They’re helping push seemingly archaic ideas forward in a way that our society really needs to progress.”
In addition, the speakers were chosen to challenge the idea that science is a field strictly for white men, emphasizing the range of ages, races, genders and backgrounds that contribute to scientific advances. Corbett, a black women, demonstrates the value to society of not discouraging certain types of people from going into STEM fields.
Tickets for the program, taking place at CMHN’s Murch Auditorium, are $25 for nonmembers, $15 for members. You can also attend virtually if you’re more comfortable doing so. Get tickets here.
cmnh.org/centennial-speaker-series