Characters
Deborah “Dale” Lacks
Henrietta's number of children.
Five
The first vaccine developed using the research of HeLa.
Polio
Wrote "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks"
Rebecca Skloot
Three issues that cause healthcare disparities. (Dr. Smith)
Education (access and quality)
Healthcare (access and quality)
Neighborhood/transportation
Social and Cultural Context
Economic Stability
The doctor who developed the techniques used to grow HeLa cells.
Dr. George Gey
Red
The name used to keep Henrietta's identity a secret.
Helen Lane
A process of communication between a patient and their health care provider that often leads to agreement or permission for care, treatment, or services
informed consent
The family member of the deceased individual in the "Law and Order" episode "Immortal" whom the researchers were taking the blood sample from and caused the "drama".
grandson
The lab assistant who cultured HeLa cells.
Mary Kubicek
Henrietta's family's belief in why she had and died of cervical cancer.
Voodoo, spirits, etc.
The nonprofit organization that started supplying researchers with HeLa cells.
The Tuskegee Institute
Term for the individuals who kidnapped African Americans for research.
Night Doctors
Indiana's place in the ranking of maternal mortality in the United States. (The Daily)
Third
Henrietta's cousin the author met with in Lacks town.
Hector "Cootie" Henry
The process mesmerized Dale when she viewed her mother's cells under a microscope.
Cell division
The first organization to sell HeLa for a profit.
Microbiological Associates
Magazine that wrote the article causing the Lacks family to find out about HeLa.
Rolling Stone
The gynecologist at John Hopkins who didn't remember Henrietta but remembered her cancer. (RadioLab)
Dr. Howard Jones
Henrietta's daughter who was institutionalized and died at the age of 15.
Lucille Elsie Pleasant
Henrietta's son who believed his troubles in life were partially to blame for him being in her womb at the same time she had cancer.
Zakariyya Bari Abdul Rahman (born Joe Lacks)
The doctor who developed the technique to grow HeLa died of what type of cancer.
pancreatic cancer
The organ John Moore had removed which he later sued his doctor over for developing a cell line from.
Spleen
The organization the Lacks family came to an agreement with (2013) about sharing the DNA of HeLa with the scientific community. (PBS Newshour)
National Institutes of Health