Vanessa Bradford Kerry:
Born on: December 31, 1976
Birth Place: Massachusetts

Cool Facts:
She admits she is the 'shy and quiet' member of the Kerry family.
She has her daddy's nose
She attends Harvard Medical School, and attended Yale
She is considering earning a Master's in health & economics
She joined the Global Health Fund after visiting Vietnam with her father
She went to Ghana to immunize children from various diseases
She supports gay marriage
She never travels without a can of almonds and gum.

Vanessa is the younger daughter John Kerry, She has an older sister Alexandra Kerry, and her mother is Julia Thorne. Vanessa and Alex don't look alike, and they have different personalities. But each knows what the other is going through. "Vanessa is really one of the only people I can talk to about some of the things I experience" Alexandra says.

Vanessa attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, graduating in 1995. Vanessa graduated summa cum laude with highest honors from Yale University, and is currently a student at Harvard University Medical School, she has studied infectious diseases and spent time in Ghana immunizing children at Harvard. She took brief leave from her medical studies in order to campaign for her father's presidential bid, And she is currently in a joint masters program in health policy at Imperial College London and the London School of Economics. The election is over and Vanessa will be back on school.

Vanessa is more intense and more private, yet more comfortable in front of the camera and well-versed in her father's platform. In 1991, Kerry, a decorated Vietnam vet, took his daughters to Vietnam, a trip that Vanessa says inspired her to enter the global health field.

Vanessa  was once falsely linked to actor Bem Affleck. after they made campaign appearances together. A rumor she laughs off. "I can only assume the rumor was put out there by a Republican, as both women, in fact, clearly have better taste than that," Affleck jokes by e-mail. The Kerry sisters won't say who, if anyone, they are dating. Vanessa and Alex are often frustrated by false rumors about whom they are dating and excess attention to what they wear, struggling to maintain a modicum of privacy while simultaneously trying to gain maximum attention for the cause.

Vanessa said he takes time out from politics to offer her a shoulder to cry on. "I broke up with a boyfriend a while ago, and I came home sobbing pathetically and Dad was so sweet," Vanessa said. "He just put his arms around me and held me and told me, 'It's okay. I know it's hard and it's rough now, but you will get past it.'"

Vanessa is called Nessa by family members. She has jokingly suggested the Secret Service call her "the hot one."