The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Henrietta Lacks was an African-American woman who died of an virulent, invasive cervical cancer when she was 31 years old.  She left a husband and five children, the last just a few months old.  During her treatment at Johns Hopkins, a charity hospital in Baltimore, a biopsy was taken of her cervix.  These cells were cultured, became the basis of the HeLa line of cells and were used worldwide for scientific research.  Neither Henrietta nor her family knew anything about them.

Skloot spent 10 years working on this book.  She worked with the Lacks family, especially Henrietta's daughter Deborah, to tell their story in addition to the scientific story.  A well-written, compelling story hard to put down once started. (2010)

Skloot established the Henrietta Lacks Foundation to provide financial assistance to individuals who had been unwitting subjects of experimental research.