Library Showcase: Genetics, Medical Ethics, and more!
HeLa cells ( Pixabay.com ) This semester we are launching PVCC’s second annual One Book Project ! On Club Day (next Tuesday) free copies of this year’s book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, will be available at the One Book table while supplies last! The book tells the true story of an African American woman from Virginia who lost her life to cancer in 1951 but gained immortality through a perpetuating cell line that revolutionized medical research. Henrietta’s story explores many topics, including medical ethics, the study of genetics, cancer, the discrimination of the Jim Crow era, and the persistence of socio-economic inequalities. You can learn about these issues and more in the latest library showcase (now in its new location in the Library Teaching Room!) Here are a few highlights from the display: The disease that took Henrietta’s life has plagued humanity for thousands of years. The history of cancer from ancient days to modern time