Henrietta Lacks was a Virginia-born woman and great-great granddaughter of a slave. She was a wife and a mother of five, but unfortunately lost her life to cervical cancer at the age of 31. While being treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital before her death, a sample of her cervical cells were taken without her knowledge. At that time, it was customary for cells taken outside the body to die quickly, so it was a surprise to the doctors that observed the samples to see Lacks’ cells not only surviving outside of her body, but multiplying at rapid rates. Her cells, which were nicknames HeLa cells, were used extensively in medical research, leading to advances in cancer treatments, AIDS research, cloning, stem cell research, and more. The polio vaccine, gene mapping, and in vitro fertilization are just a few accomplishment attributed to research conducted on the HeLa cell line. Because of this, Henrietta Lacks has been coined the Mother of Modern Medicine.
Unfortunately, she was previously never recognized for her unknowing work in the medical field, and her family had never known. Now, she is finally getting the recognition she deserves. In May of 2018, The Smithsonian unveiled a brilliant portrait of Lacks, commissioned by HBO and done by Los Angeles based illustrator Kadir Nelson. It was jointly acquired by the National Museum of African American History of Culture and the National Portrait Gallery. It was displayed on the first floor of the Portrait Gallery through November. John Hopkins also has plans do construct a new research building named after Henrietta Lacks in her honor.
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DBAC DISPATCHCulture - Activism - Community Service Archives
March 2019
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