Author Rebecca Skloot gave a lecture to a packed room of students, teachers and community members Jan. 26 at Northwestern University. Her book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, is the subject of the school's year-long One Book program.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks the extraordinary tale of one African-American woman, Henrietta Lacks, and how her cells became the basis for a revolution in medicine. Lacks died young of an aggressive form of cancer, but her cells lived on, known to the world as HeLa, the first "immortal" human cells. These cells have helped in developing the polio vaccine; helped in cancer research; assisted in research on the atom bomb's effects; were part of key studies on in vitro fertilization, cloning and gene mapping; and they have even been to the moon.
Skloot spoke about how the idea for the book originated, and how she followed a very unusual path to becoming a science journalist and author. For the students, probably the most important lessons were that she followed her own interests, took an unconventional educational path (who skips school to go attend classes at another school?), and stuck to a topic for 10 years despite rejections from so many publishers. Her book has been optioned for a film by Oprah Winfrey and Alan Ball for HBO.
Windy City Times interviewed Skloot in late 2010. See www.windycitymediagroup.com/lgbt/BOOKS-Henrietta-Lacks-author-Skloot-in-Chicago/29454.html .
Photo by Tracy Baim