![]() Vance, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Leslie Uggams, Reed Birney, Rocky Carroll and John Douglas Thompson, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a story of medical arrogance and triumph, race, poverty, and deep friendship between the unlikeliest of people. ![]() With a supporting cast that includes Renée Elise Goldsberry, Reg E. Told primarily through the eyes of Lacks’ daughter Deborah (Oprah Winfrey) and journalist Rebecca Skloot (Rose Byrne), the film chronicles Deborah’s search to learn about the mother she never knew, and to understand how the unauthorized harvesting of Lacks’ cancerous cells in 1951 led to unprecedented medical breakthroughs, from cancer to polio to radiation to AIDS, changing countless lives and the face of medicine forever. Lacks ultimately passed away on October 4, 1951, at the age of 31, her cells continue to impact the world.Boasting an exceptional cast and production team, and based on Rebecca Skloot’s critically acclaimed 2010 nonfiction best-seller of the same name, this HBO Films drama tells the true story of Henrietta Lacks, an African- American woman whose cells were used to create the first immortal human cell line, known as HeLa. They have been used to test the effects of radiation and poisons, to study the human genome, to learn more about how viruses work, and played a crucial role in the development of the polio and COVID-19 vaccines. “Today, these incredible cells… are used to study the effects of toxins, drugs, hormones and viruses on the growth of cancer cells without experimenting on humans. Though the collection and use of Henrietta Lacks’ cells in research was an acceptable and legal practice in the 1950s, such a practice would not happen today without the patient’s consent.” The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells a riveting story of the collision between ethics, race, and medicine of scientific discovery and faith healing. Having reviewed our interactions with Henrietta Lacks and with the Lacks family over more than 50 years, we found that Johns Hopkins could have – and should have – done more to inform and work with members of Henrietta Lacks’ family out of respect for them, their privacy and their personal interests. “Johns Hopkins applauds and regularly participates in efforts to raise awareness of the life and story of Henrietta Lacks. I t is easy to forget, amid everything else she has achieved, that Oprah Winfrey is an Oscar-nominated actor (in 1985, for her role as Sofia in The Color Purple). “The NIH worked with the Lacks family to establish a process to make HeLa cell whole genome sequencing data available for biomedical research.”Īnd from Johns Hopkins University and Hospital, where Lacks sought treatment: ![]() Lacks-Whye and other family representatives now have a seat at the table, serving with NIH scientists on a HeLa genome committee. “Her daughter Deborah wondered: If our mother’s cells have done so much for medicine, how come her family can’t afford to see doctors?” “Skloot worked for years alongside Henrietta’s daughter, Deborah Lacks, whose determination to uncover the true story of her mother resulted in a book that has changed not only the lives of the family she left behind, but the course of science as well.”Ī standard during that era of medicine, “ the specimens were obtained without Henrietta Lacks’ knowledge or consent.” As shared with Terry Gross on Fresh Air in 2010, “it took 25 years for her family to find out about HeLa cells,” Lacks’ cell line named using the first two letters of her first and last name. It features The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks author Rebecca Skloot, grandson Alfred Lacks Carter, and granddaughter Jeri Lacks-Whye. This BBC Reel video by Daniel John, with animations by Lily Baker, shares Lacks’ story for all ages. Unbeknownst to her or her family, her cells- sampled during her treatment-”turned out to have an extraordinary capacity to survive and reproduce,” Nature explains. In 1951, Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with cervical cancer. ![]()
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