file photo
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Henrietta Lacks (August 1, 1920 – October 4, 1951) was an African American woman whose cells, known as the “HeLa” cells, have played a pivotal role in scientific and medical research. Henrietta Lacks was born in Roanoke, Virginia, and she later moved to Maryland. She passed away at the young age of 31 due to cervical cancer.