On the same date, an audiobook edition was published by Random House Audio, narrated by Casandra Campbell and Bahni Turpin ( ISBN 978-0-9), as well as electronic editions in mobile (Kindle) and EPUB formats. The book was initially released in hardcover, published by Crown, on Febru( ISBN 978-1-4000-5217-2). Skloot said that some of the information was taken from the journal of Deborah Lacks, Henrietta Lacks's daughter, as well as from "archival photos and documents, scientific and historical research." It is Skloot's first book. The book is notable for its science writing and dealing with ethical issues of race and class in medical research. Skloot began conducting extensive research on her and worked with Lacks' family to create the book. Skloot became interested in Lacks after a biology teacher referenced her but knew little about her. for a conversation with Rebecca Skloot, part of Lincoln’s Bold Voices Speaker Series and presented thanks to the Alexis Allen Boss ’89 Endowment for Community Service and Public Accord. Find out more and register here: book is about Henrietta Lacks and the immortal cell line, known as HeLa, that came from Lacks's cervical cancer cells in 1951. Want to know more about New York Times #1 Bestseller The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks? Join us on October 26 at 6 p.m. Rebecca Skloot is coming to Lincoln School! and we wouldn’t even know the story without Rebecca Skloot.” -Oprah Winfreyġ1. “I live to tell stories that touch on what it means to be a black woman in the world, so I still feel it’s a miracle that we know it was an African-American woman who contributed all this to the medical field. Her sacrifice is giving teenagers like me an opportunity to excel into the future.” -Logan Cary, recipient of the 2016 Henrietta Lacks/Dunbar High School Scholarship for Baltimore students who wish to pursue careers in medicine.ġ0. “Her cells did more than just cure diseases. Skloot’s research, which was centered around the Lacks family, helped them learn not just what happened to Henrietta, but about her contribution and enduring legacy. At the time, even though their loved one was behind one of the building blocks of modern medicine, they couldn’t afford health insurance. Henrietta Lacks’ family had no knowledge of their mother, wife, and relative’s contribution to the world of science until almost 20 years after her death. HeLa was a mystery to Henrietta’s family. That spark would lead to over 10 years of in-depth research on the woman behind the cells, which Skloot then used to write her best-selling book.Ĩ. "I said to my teacher: who was this woman Henrietta Lacks? Where was she from? Did she have any kids? But all the teacher knew was that she was black, and that she had died in 1951 from cervical cancer," said Skloot. Rebecca Skloot, the author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, first learned about Henrietta as a 16 year old in biology class. In fact, one researcher has estimated that if you laid them all end-to-end, they'd wrap around the planet at least three times! Today, more than 70 years after her death, there are billions of HeLa cells in the world. In 1960, HeLa cells were sent up into space in a Soviet Satellite to study the effects of space on the most basic elements of human life. “The fact that 70 years later a sample of our grandmother’s cells still exists is almost superhuman.” - David Lacks, Henrietta’s grandson James Potter, MD, Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins referred to Lacks as “probably if not the most important, then one of the most important women in science and medicine.” Not only did her cells contribute to some of the most important advancements in modern medicine, but her life and death shined a spotlight on the topic of patient rights and medical ethics. Henrietta’s cells have been used for decades to shape the course of modern medicine leading to breakthroughs in treatment of leukemia, influenza, Parkinson's disease, certain types of genetic diagnoses, cancer, and AIDS, and has contributed to the advancement of cloning, gene mapping, and in vitro fertilization. You’ve likely benefitted from her cells without knowing it. And today, not only do they still live on, but they can be found in almost any lab in any part of the world.Ģ. Those cells continued to live on, dividing and multiplying every 24 hours, the first cells to ever survive in a culture for any length of time. Henrietta Lacks, a poor black tobacco farmer, had her cells taken without her knowledge as she was being treated for cervical cancer, which she died from a short while later. Even though she died in 1951, she is still alive today.
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