Johns Hopkins unveils architectural sketch for new Henrietta Lacks science building

Johns Hopkins University last month unveiled an architectural sketch for a new facility it plans to build and name for Henrietta Lacks, a Black cancer patient whose cells became the first in the world to replicate outside her body — considered by many a medical miracle. Lacks’ cells — HeLa cells — supported early vaccine development, among other scientific advancements. But the miracle was one she didn’t know about before her death in 1951 because the Hopkins doctors who treated her cervical cancer didn’t seek her consent before sampling her cells for research, as is standard practice today. “Many of the most important advancements and discoveries in medicine have come as a result of Henrietta Lacks’ ‘immortal’ cells,” Theodore DeWeese, CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine, said in a statement.