The hidden figure who made modern medicine what it is today

? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

Henrietta Lacks is a name you should know. Another victim of unrecognized contributions to science, she is the reason much of modern medicine is what it is today. In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, Lacks’ role in science is revealed and leads into a discussion of medical ethics, negligence, and non-consensual procedures.

Named HeLa by scientists, Lacks was a poor tobacco farmer whose cancer cells were taken without her knowledge. These were then to become the first “immortal” human cells, still alive long after her death, to be used for developing groundbreaking science like the polio vaccine, cancer breakthroughs, progress for in vitro fertilization, gene mapping, and much more.

And yet, she is given no credit. Left behind by the scientists who used her cells, Lacks’ family had no knowledge of the events until two decades after her death despite her pivotal role in modern science. Although responsible for multimns in profit, none was shared with the family, who ironically cannot afford their own medical bills or a lawyer to rectify the situation, opening up a conversation of neglect in healthcare in regards to African Americans.

Skloot takes it beyond analysis to share the stories of the Lacks family. Left with many questions but no answers, the family was completely in the dark. The author documents their troubles with their newfound knowledge and the consequences of prioritizing scientific discovery over people.