Her family is uncertain how her name changed from Loretta to Henrietta, but she was nicknamed Hennie. She is remembered as having hazel eyes, a small waist, size 6 shoes, and always wearing red nail polish and a neatly pleated skirt. Henrietta Lacks was born Loretta Pleasant on August 1, 1920, in Roanoke, Virginia, to Eliza Pleasant (née Lacks) (1886–1924) and John 'Johnny' Randall Pleasant (1881–1969).

With knowledge of the cell line's genetic provenance becoming public, its use for medical research and for commercial purposes continues to raise concerns about privacy and patients' rights.

Neither she nor her family were compensated for the extraction or use of the HeLa cells.Įven though some information about the origins of HeLa's immortalized cell lines was known to researchers after 1970, the Lacks family was not made aware of the line's existence until 1975. As was then the practice, no consent was required to culture the cells obtained from Lacks's treatment. These cells were then cultured by George Otto Gey, who created the cell line known as HeLa, which is still used for medical research. Lacks was the unwitting source of these cells from a tumor biopsied during treatment for cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1951. An immortalized cell line reproduces indefinitely under specific conditions, and the HeLa cell line continues to be a source of invaluable medical data to the present day. Henrietta Lacks (born Loretta Pleasant Aug– October 4, 1951) was an African-American woman whose cancer cells are the source of the HeLa cell line, the first immortalized human cell line and one of the most important cell lines in medical research.

Henrietta Lacks Health and Bioscience High School historical marker at Clover, Virginia

Dead space marker statue