Kathryn M. Edwards, MD, the Sarah H. Sell and Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Pediatrics Emerita at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, has led many of the pivotal clinical trials of vaccines licensed in the past several decades and has played a major role in their implementation.  She was very involved in the evaluation and licensure of acellular pertussis vaccines. She graduated from the University of Iowa College of Medicine and completed her pediatric residency and infectious disease fellowship at Northwestern University and her postdoctoral training in Immunology at Rush Medical School in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Edwards joined the Vanderbilt Vaccine Program in 1980. She has served on multiple CDC, NIH, FDA, WHO, and IDSA committees. She was the Chair of the Vaccines and Related Biologic Products Advisory Committee of the FDA and has served on multiple vaccine safety and monitoring committees for industry and government.  She directed the NIH-funded Vaccine Treatment and Evaluation Unit at Vanderbilt for many years.  In 2006, she received the IDSA Mentor Award for her exceptional mentoring and in 2014 received the Maureen Andrews Mentoring Award from the Society for Pediatric Research. In 2008 she was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, in 2018 she was awarded the Maxwell Finland award for Scientific Accomplishments, in 2019 she received the Frank Morriss Leadership Award in Pediatrics, and in 2020 she was awarded the Howland Award for her accomplishments in Pediatrics by the American Pediatric Society. She is currently active in assessing the safety and effectiveness of vaccines and monoclonal antibodies and in mentoring the next generation of vaccine scientists.