During her brief lifetime, Henrietta Lacks inadvertently changed the face of medicine. Now, the woman whose harvested cells continue to inform and advance medical research will also change the face of Johns Hopkins, as the institution has broken ground on a building named for her. On Monday, several of Lacks’ descendants joined representatives from Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Medicine for the groundbreaking ceremony at the corner of Ashland and Rutland Avenues in Baltimore.
“Today we make a concrete commitment to ensure that Henrietta Lacks’ name will be as immortal as her cells,” said John Hopkins University President Ron Daniels, according to a report from the institution. “When the Henrietta Lacks Building rises, it will be a vibrant, multidisciplinary site of learning, discovery and dialogue that will facilitate community-oriented medical research and nurture the next wave of progress in the study and promotion of research ethics. We look forward to a building that will do justice to Henrietta Lacks’ transformative legacy, and we offer our heartfelt thanks to the members of the Lacks family for their generosity of spirit in lending this building her name.”
As documented in the bestselling book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” Lacks’ history with Johns Hopkins is a controversial one. After seeking treatment at the institution’s hospital, the 31-year-old mother of five was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Despite treatment, she died in October 1951. However, the sample of cells taken during Lacks’ biopsy proved resistant, not only surviving but multiplying, a previously unseen phenomenon. Intrigued by the rarity of Lacks’ genetic material, biologist and cancer researcher George Gey, who had been collecting and studying the cells of the hospital’s cancer patients at the time, shared samples with other global researchers at no cost.
Lacks’ cells, since named “HeLa” cells (to represent the first two letters of her first and last names) would prove foundational in future medical research and innovation. In the years since her tissue was collected, her cells have been used in human genome research, treatments for cancer and HIV/AIDS, and even the vaccines now available for polio and COVID-19, reports Johns Hopkins. However, for all of their worth in the world of medicine, for decades, no acknowledgment was given to Lacks or any compensation to her surviving family; that is, until researcher and author Rebecca Skloot uncovered Lacks’ story and explored, with John Hopkins’ participation, the bioethical issues surrounding the unauthorized harvesting of her precious cells.
“At several points across those decades, we found that Johns Hopkins could have — and should have — done more to inform and work with members of Henrietta Lacks’ family out of respect for them, their privacy and their personal interests,” the institution ultimately conceded, committing itself to cementing Lacks’ legacy alongside her family. In 2013, Johns Hopkins partnered with Lacks’ family and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to create a consent-based agreement for the use of Lack’s genetic material in NIH-funded research. Two members of the Lacks family currently serve on the committee, one of whom is Henrietta Lacks’ granddaughter, Jeri Lacks Whye, who participated in Monday’s groundbreaking.
“Although this building will bear her name, it will also provide space for continued research, learning, and inspiring future generations,” Lacks Whye said in a statement. “We acknowledge more than the scientific contributions made possible by her cells. We also acknowledge the story of a Black woman who did not live to see the world that her cells helped to create — a story that, for too long, was hidden. Our hope is that this building will continue to shed light on her legacy.”
At Monday’s groundbreaking, Theodore DeWeese, dean of the medical faculty and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine, reiterated the institution’s commitment to doing exactly that, stating, “Today is not about those immortal cells, as important as they are. Today is about immortalizing the name of the woman from whom those cells came. It is about ensuring that her name and her unknowing role will always be remembered by all of the students, by all the residents, by all the other trainees, by the faculty, [and] the staff who walk into the building that’s going to rise on this plot of ground.
“[Henrietta Lacks] is, without doubt, one of the most important contributors to science and medicine, and it really is our hope that this building will serve as an important reflection on the meaning of her life to this world,” DeWeese added.
Designed by Black architect Victor Vines and located on John Hopkins’ East Baltimore campus, the future building bearing Lacks’ name will be a 34,000-square-foot facility adjoining the university’s Deering Hall, the longtime home of the Berman Institute of Bioethics. Johns Hopkins reports the new building “will support multiple programs of the Berman Institute, Johns Hopkins University and the School of Medicine, and will house flexible program and classroom space for educational, research, and community use purposes.”
“The breadth and depth of our work will expand with this new building,” said Jeffrey Kahn, director of the Berman Institute, adding, “and its dedication to Henrietta Lacks is an important reminder of the need for ethics, equity, responsible science, and community-engaged research.”
As for the inspiration behind its design, architect Vines described the concept as “veil-like [and] delicate, [yet] strong, bold and beautiful, which we believe this person was.” The building’s evocative features include “a magnificent stair that ascends upward through the building toward the heavens, where I choose to believe Henrietta Lacks is today,” added Vines, who collaborated with both Johns Hopkins and the Lacks family on the design concept.
For JaBrea Rodgers, Lacks’ great-granddaughter, the full significance of Lacks’ long-overlooked legacy continues to be made manifest in this architectural tribute. “Today we recognize not just her cells, but her humanity,” she said of the groundbreaking. “My great-grandmother was a mother, a wife, and a friend. While we cannot change the injustices of the past, we can, however, ensure her legacy is known and celebrated. As we look to the future of this building, let it serve as a symbol not only of scientific advancements but of the ongoing journey towards recognizing the humanity behind every discovery.”
Construction on the Henrietta Lacks Building at Johns Hopkins is expected to be completed in 2026.