Book Bridge Project

  • 2012-2013 Academic Year

    About The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

    Immortal Life of Henrieta Sparks CoverHer 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, vital for developing 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 virtually unknown, and her family can’t afford health insurance.

    Soon to be made into an HBO movie by Oprah Winfrey and Alan Ball, this New York Times bestseller takes readers on an extraordinary journey, from the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers filled with HeLa cells, from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia, to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks 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. It’s a story inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we’re made of.

    Source: www.rebeccaskloot.com 

     

  • Events

    Student Largo Center: Rennie Forum

    Lecture by Vence Bonham

      

    Come hear Vence L. Bonham, an NIH expert on medical ethics and the disparities of health treatment for the poor, discuss this year’s Book Bridge book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.  He will address the ethical issues raised by Ms. Lack’s situation and compare it to existing standards for treatment of patients in the medical community.

    Mr. Bonham is the Senior Advisor to the National Human Genome Research Institute, Director on Genomics and Health Disparities and Chief of the Education and Community Involvement Branch. He is also an associate investigator in the Social and Behavioral Research Branch, Division of Intramural Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health.

  • Ms. Risikat Okedeyi, Director
    Book Bridge Project
    Marlboro Rm. 3059

    Address

    301 Largo Rd.,
    Largo, MD 20774

    Phone:

    301-322-0558

    Email us:

    ROkedeyi@pgcc.edu