On August 1, the descendants of Henrietta Lacks finally reached a settlement with the company they say developed products from and profited off of HeLa: Thermo Fisher Scientific. While the terms of the settlement were confidential, both parties released statements expressing that they were “pleased that they were able to find a way to resolve this matter outside of Court.”

In 1951, a woman named Henrietta Lacks walked into Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Hospital to receive treatment for her cervical cancer. Without her consent, doctors removed a sample of her tumor and gave them to a researcher. The cells, which were referred to by scientists only as the abbreviation “HeLa,” went on to become the first immortal human cell line, reproducing endlessly like no human cells had ever done before in a laboratory environment.

Since their introduction, the cells have been used in thousands of studies which revolutionized science and medicine – from AIDS and HIV research to the polio vaccine. HeLa cells even traveled to space. But through it all, the Lacks family never saw a penny of the profit. In fact, they only found out that the cells lived on in the 1970s, over two decades after Henrietta’s passing.

The Lacks family story was the basis of author Rebecca Skloot’s bestselling book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. The book explores how race relations, ethics, and medicine came together to affect Henrietta’s circumstances as a Black patient in the 1950s.

Today, Henrietta’s contribution to science is honored in many different ways. In 2018, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. installed a painting of Henrietta inside one of its main entrances. In 2021, the World Health Organization awarded her with a posthumous Director-General’s award. 

Johns Hopkins hosts two Henrietta Lacks Symposiums each year: one for researchers and community members to discuss ethics in medical research, and one to expose high schoolers in Baltimore City to the world of biomedical research. And this year, two senators introduced a bill to posthumously award Henrietta a Congressional Gold Medal – Congress’ most prestigious recognition.

Over 70 years after Henrietta’s death, her memory lives on.