Allison's Book Group - "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientis 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, vital for develping the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in-vitro fertilization, and more. Henrietta's cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she remains vitually unknown. Join Alison Petrus-Wilkins for a discussion of this riveting story of the collision between ethics, race and medicine.
Books are available at the library for checkout.