ROANOKE, Va. – People in the Star City are honoring the “Mother of Modern Medicine,” Henrietta Lacks.
City leaders unveiled a bronze statue in Downtown Roanoke on Wednesday, a permanent memorial to Lacks and the unique role she played in the advancement of medicine.
Her cells were used 1950s in research without her knowledge or consent after she died from cancer.
The artist who designed the sketch for the statue is pleased to see it come to fruition.
“It’s really humbling, and it’s humbling to see it done, to see it finished just to see all the hard work went, Larry really knocked it out the park with the sculpture, just honored to see it finally finished,” Bryce Cobbs, the sketch artist said.