Page 50 - Great Elizabethans

When an infectious disease called COVID-19 spread around the world in 2020, scientists everywhere began working to find treatments – and vaccines. Professor Sarah Gilbert was one of the first people to develop a vaccine that protected people against catching the COVID-19 virus.
FULL OF DETERMINATION
Sarah was born in 1962, in the town of Kettering, where many people made shoes and boots. Her father worked in a shoemaker’s office, and her mother was an English teacher who loved opera. Sarah was a quiet girl, but clever and full of determination. When she wanted something, she worked hard to get it. .
When Sarah was at secondary school, she realised that she wanted to study science, especially medicines, and worked long hours to get good results in her exams. Like her mother, Sarah also loved music – she played the oboe in the school orchestra.
When Sarah went to study biology at university, she took up playing the saxophone – but she practised outside in the woods in case she disturbed the other students!
After her biology degree, Sarah went to the University of Hull to study genetics (how different characteristics get passed down from parent to child) and biochemistry. Then she worked for a while at a company that made medicines, before returning to university to study a disease called malaria.
In 1998, Sarah became busier still – she and her partner Rob had triplets! To allow Sarah to focus on her work, Rob looked after the children most
of the time. Although Sarah encouraged her children to find their own interests as they grew up, all three triplets grew up to study biochemistry, just like her!
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