Book Discussion with Judy Levin-Thursday, February 17

This month Judy Levin will lead a discussion of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, one of the top non-fiction books of 2010. Join us Thursday, February 17 at 12:30pm in the Programming Room downstairs.

This book is the product of 10 years of research and writing. Skloot weaves together Henrietta Lack’s biography and her family history, with broader issues surrounding the history of medical experimentation on African Americans, the rising field of bioethics, and our legal rights to determine who we are. Skloot also tells the story of her own research and her attempts to connect with Henrietta’s family, especially Lack's youngest daughter Deborah.

Henrietta Lacks was a young African American woman undergoing cancer treatment in 1951 at Baltimore’s John Hopkins Hospital. While she was hospitalized doctors collected tissue samples without her knowledge. After her death these became the basis of the first immortal cell line, known as HeLa.

Today HeLa is one of the most commonly used cell lines in laboratories around the world.  Research projects using HeLa have resulted in the polio vaccine and treatments for AIDS. Yet despite the multimillion-dollar industry that was launched by her cells her family never shared in the profits.

We promise that once you begin reading this book you’ll find it is impossible to put down. Sometimes true life is stranger than fiction.