Panel to discuss this year’s Big Read

The Big Read Community Reading Project inspires people across the U.S. to pick up a good book. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, the biographical story of a woman who unknowingly contributes to a medical breakthrough, is the 2011 Miami Valley Big Read.

Wright State University Libraries will participate in the Big Read with a panel presentation and discussion on Wednesday, April 6, at 3 p.m. Free and open to the public, the event will be held in the Paul Laurence Dunbar Library.

The discussion panel consists of the following Wright State professors:

• Jeff John, Ph.D., Communication
• Gary LeRoy, M.D., Boonshoft School of Medicine
• Sarah Twill, Ph.D., Social Work

Panelists will discuss themes raised in the book including law, science and ethics. Their presentation will be followed by audience discussion and refreshments.

Book synopsis by the Library Journal:

“Henrietta Lacks, an African-American mother of five, was undergoing cancer treatment at Johns Hopkins University in 1951 when tissue samples were removed without her knowledge or permission and used to create HeLa, the first ‘immortal’ cell line. HeLa has been sold around the world and used in countless medical research applications, including the development of the polio vaccine. Science writer Skloot, who worked on this book for 10 years, entwines Lacks’ biography, the development of the HeLa cell line and her own story of building a relationship with Lacks’ children. The author interweaves the story of the Lacks family along with the scientific uses and discoveries from Henrietta’s cell line, and the disturbing ethical and legal issues that persist to this day.”

Copies of the book are available for checkout at the Dunbar Library Circulation Desk and for sale at the Barnes & Noble Campus Bookstore. Advance registration for the event is appreciated, but not required. Registration can be done online at www.libraries.wright.edu/calendar/events or by calling (937) 775-2380.