Spotlighting Black History: Henrietta Lacks
Who is Henrietta Lacks? Born in Roanoke, Virginia on August 1, 1920, Henrietta Lacks was an African American woman whose cells were involuntarily collected and used to advance the medical field. Despite radiation treatment and surgery, Lacks passed from terminal cervical cancer that had spread throughout her body in October 1951. She was diagnosed earlier in the year at John Hopkins Hospital of Maryland due to intense stomach pains and atypical vaginal bleeding, where her cancer cells were collected during a surgical biopsy and stored by researchers. As the first ever line of immortal cells (an atypical cluster of cells that mutate and multiply on their own outside of the host organism) in history, her cells have enabled scientists the ability to study cells outside of the human body. This cell line was named “HeLa” by Dr. George Otto Grey, researcher and head of tissue culture research, after the first two letters of her first and last name. Since, the HeLa cell line has been one of the most utilized methods for scientific advancement. It was not until forty-five years of use, however, that Henrietta Lacks finally received recognition for her medical scientific contributions by Morehouse School of Medicine in 1996. Until only recently, her family received zero recognition or compensation for the unconsented use of her cells. Their family’s history and privacy has been violated due to its inclusion within numerous reports and papers that used the HeLa cell line, which they also did not receive compensation for. Listed below are some of the innumerable contributions to science the HeLa cell line has made over time:
Sources https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/features/hela-consent-henrietta-lacks/ https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/henrietta-lacks-1920-1951 https://law.lclark.edu/live/news/38238-black-history-month-henrietta-lacks |