Panelists:
Larry Davis, PhD (Dean of the School of Social Work)
Lisa S. Parker, PhD (Director of the Center for Bioethics & Health Law)
Elizabeth Pitts, PhD (Assistant Professor of English)
Abstract: Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells—taken without her knowledge in 1951—became one of the most important tools in medicine, crucial for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, and more. Henrietta's cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she remains virtually unknown, and her family can't afford health insurance. The phenomenal New York Times bestseller tells a riveting story of the collision between ethics, race, and medicine; of scientific discovery and faith healing; and of a daughter consumed with questions about the mother she never knew. This panel discussion considered the book as a work of science writing, as well as a work that raises issues of research ethics and of race.
Medical Humanities Mondays Lecture Series, sponsored by the Center for Bioethics & Health Law and in partnership with the Humanities Center and the "One Community Reads" program
Location and Address
Room 602, Cathedral of Learning