The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
 

December 7, 2010, 7 pm

Henrietta Lacks was a poor African American woman. When she became ill with cervical cancer, she was treated in the “colored” section of Johns Hopkins Hospital. Her cells were harvested without her consent, and they became the immortal cells known as HeLa. Thousands of students, doctors, and scientists worked with HeLa, and important medical breakthroughs were made because of them. HeLa cells were vital in developing the polio vaccine, new cancer treatments, the study of viruses; and they advanced the sciences of in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping. However, few people knew the woman’s name from whom the cells were taken. This is her story and the story of her family’s quest to find out the truth about their mother, sister, and aunt: Henrietta Lacks.

Book Discussion Questions 
 

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Book Reviews

Immortal Cells, Enduring Issues - John Hopkins Magazine article

Rebecca Skloot Biography