Vanessa Kerry

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Vanessa Kerry
Born December 31, 1976 (1976-12-31) (age 31)
Boston, Massachusetts
Education B.Sc. (summa cum laude honors)
Alma mater Yale University
Parents John Kerry and Julia Thorne

Vanessa Bradford Kerry (born December 31, 1976 in Boston, Massachusetts) is the younger daughter of John Kerry and his first wife, Julia Thorne . Her older sister is Alexandra Kerry. After her parents divorced, she moved with her mother to Bozeman, Montana; however, she boarded at the exclusive private high school, Phillips Andover Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. Her mother was an author, who passed away in 2006 due to bladder cancer. Her father is the Junior Senator from Massachusetts in the United States Senate.

Vanessa Kerry graduated summa cum laude from Yale University with a major in biology. While a student at Yale she played for the varsity lacrosse team. After graduating with her bachelor's degree, she enrolled in Harvard Medical School. There, she interned with the Vaccine Fund of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, founded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where she conducted a study on immunization in Ghana.

She took a leave from her medical studies in order to campaign for her father's presidential bid in 2004, even introducing him at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. She campaigned by herself and with her sister, mostly focusing on campaign stops at university campuses. She made speeches in support of her father and focused on health care issues and tuition costs for students, two Democratic campaign issues she felt personally attached to.[1] She appeared in print as well, being interviewed by Ben Affleck for the September 2004 issue of Harper's Bazaar, as well as Ms. Magazine. She also appeared on the MTV Music Video Awards show in Miami where she joined George W. Bush's daughters to encourage voting. Through her work with her father and her public health policy education, she has not ruled out running for political office in the future.[2]

In 2005-2006, she was in a joint master's program in health policy at the London School of Economics and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She has plans to return to complete her medical school degree at Harvard.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ McDonald, Riley. The Cavalier Daily News. Vanessa Kerry makes U.Va. campaign stop. 3 September 2004. (Accessed 13 May 2007).
  2. ^ Ms. Magazine editors. Ms. "Daughterhood Is Powerful: An Interview with Vanessa Kerry". Fall 2004. (Accessed 13 May 2007)

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