BALTIMORE — Johns Hopkins University and the family of Henrietta Lacks say a new building on the school’s campus in East Baltimore will be named after the woman whose cells were taken without her consent and widely used in revolutionary research.
News outlets report the building will support programs promoting research and community engagement. Lacks died of cervical cancer in 1951 at the university where researchers discovered her cells reproduced indefinitely in test tubes.
University President Ronald Daniels said Saturday that the building scheduled for completion in 2022 will stand as a testament to Lacks’ transformative impact on science as well as the importance of ethics in research.
Lacks’ granddaughter, Jeri Lacks, says the honor befits her grandmother’s role in advancing modern medicine.
