His research was inspired by his early exposure to HeLa cells and he eventually developed his own cell lines, BeWo, the first human trophoblastic endocrine cell type to be maintained in continuous culture, and CaSki and DoT, of cervical origin. In 2003, he was awarded the Medallion of the International Trophoblast Society for his stem cell research. The Obstetrics and Gynecology residency program was established during this same period.
Pattillo, a certified Obstetrician and Gynecologist and Gynecologic Oncologist served as the interim Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of MSM from 1996 to 1998. Pattillo’s tenure at John Hopkins University and the Medical College of Wisconsin, he eventually transitioned his laboratory and his passion for the HeLa cell scientific potential to Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM), bringing along his enduring close relationship with the Lacks Family. Roland Anthony Pattillo, Professor Emeritus Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Morehouse School of Medicine.Īfter Dr. This experience would ultimately birth her bestselling book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks written in 2010.ĭr. In fact it took several phone conversations between he and author, Rebecca Skloot, for him to facilitate the introduction that led to her interviewing the Lacks family. He purchased a headstone for Henrietta’s previously unmarked grave and emerged as a champion for and gatekeeper to access to the Lacks family. Pattillo’s interest in and compassion for the Lacks family led him to become well acquainted with them. George Gey, the researcher who was able to grow Lacks’ cells from a biopsy when she was being treated for cervical cancer. Roland Athony Pattillo was the only African American at Johns Hopkins University to study under Dr. Roland Pattillo: Champion of HeLa & Henrietta Lacksĭr. However recognition of her involuntary donation to science would remain secret until the 1970s. Henrietta Lacks’ immortal cells would change the face of medicine forever.
Variations of HeLa cells are used in research all over the world, resulting in more than 80,000 scientific publications, break-through research in cancer and health benefits and enormous economic returns to Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industries. These cells became the basis for the first immortal human cell line, HeLa ( Henrietta Lacks). Surgeons at Johns Hopkins harvested cells from her tumor without her permission or the knowledge of her family. Henrietta Lacks died of cervical cancer in 1951 at the untimely age of 31.
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