Hopkins Hosts Henrietta Lacks Lecture Series

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Johns Hopkins Hospital is hosting the fifth annual Henrietta Lacks Memorial Lecture this weekend.

On Saturday, Dorothy Roberts, a University of Pennsylvania professor of Africana studies, law and sociology, will deliver a keynote speech on the topic of race and biomedical research at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

The annual lecture is named after Henrietta Lacks, a Baltimore woman whose cells helped to advance scientific research for decades after her death in 1951, despite the fact that Johns Hopkins did not ask her family's permission to use her DNA for research purposes.

Lacks' great-granddaughter Veronica Spencer will be in attendance, as will Johns Hopkins experts in the areas of research ethics and patient advocacy.

The winner of this year's Henrietta Lacks Dunbar Health Sciences Scholarship will also be announced at the lecture.

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