Afro-American woman, born August 1. 1920; died October 4, 1951.
Biography of Henrietta Lacks
Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with a malignant carcinoma of the cervix at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore in 1951. The story of this amazingly robust and fast-growing cell-type began when George Gey (1899-1979), head of tissue culture research at Hopkins, took a samle before applying the first treatment to the patient. The celles were cultured without the permission og her family which was not even informed and learned about the world-wide use of her cells years later.
HeLa cells played a vital role in the development of polio vaccine.
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An eponym is a word derived from the name of a person, whether real or fictional. A medical eponym is thus
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