Vanessa Kerry

Vanessa Kerry
Born	December 31, 1976 (1976-12-31) Boston, Massachusetts
Education	B.Sc. (summa cum laude honors), M.Sc., M.D. (cum laude honors)
Alma mater	Yale University London School of Economics London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Harvard Medical School
Occupation	Staff at Massachusetts General Hospital, Faculty at Harvard Medical School
Spouse	Brian Nahed (2009-present)
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. She gained national recognition while campaigning for her father during the 2004 presidential election.

Early life and family

Kerry's mother, Julia Thorne, was an author, who died in 2006 due to transitional cell carcinoma. Her father, John Kerry, is the Senior Senator from Massachusetts in the United States Senate. Her older sister is Alexandra Kerry. After her parents divorced, she moved with her mother to Bozeman, Montana. She attended the high school, Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.

On October 10, 2009 in Boston, Kerry married Brian Vala Nahed, a Neurosurgery resident at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Nahed's family resides in Los Angeles where Mr. Kasra Ramez, UC Irvine Political Analyst is soon to enter law school and eventually aid Senator Kerry in his office.

Education and career

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 went to the London School of Economics and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where she received a master’s of science in health policy, planning and financing. While in London, she was a Fulbright Scholar. Afterwards, she attended the Harvard Medical School from where she graduated with Honors. 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 later studied and advised on government relations for health and development in Rwanda.

She has continued work in international health and has collaborated on projects in Haiti through the Harvard Medical School Department of Global Health and Social Medicine. She is also actively working on public sector partnerships in Uganda through Massachusetts General Hospital. She finished a residency in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in 2010.

She recently scribed an op-ed in the New York Times on providing scholarships and loan forgiveness for health professionals to work abroad as part of a new form of international diplomacy. She is co-leading the effort for a Global Health Service Corps, a federally funded program for skilled medical professionals to work for health system strengthening and human resources for health (Global Health Service Corps).

Political activity

Kerry 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. 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.

She is a former member of the Board of Directors of Young Democrats of America. She was recently elected as a term member to the Council on Foreign Relations.

External links

• Vanessa Kerry at the Internet Movie Database