Wednesday, October 5, 2011
2:00- 3:30 pm
Barnhardt Student Activity Center, Salons D and E
Reception immediately following

Featuring David J. Kroll, Ph.D., Professor and Chair,
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences,
North Carolina Central University in Durham

RSVPs are required for this extraordinary event.  Please visit http://health.uncc.edu/gratefulscientist. 
Acceptances only, please.  Space is limited.

Dr. Kroll served as a scientific reviewer for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, the best-selling book by author Rebecca Skloot. The story details Skloot’s ten-year journey to document the life - and afterlife - of the young African American woman from rural Virginia whose aggressive case of cervical cancer in 1951 gave rise to HeLa cells, the first human tumor cell line to be continuously carried in culture.

While earning his Ph.D. in pharmacology at the University of Florida and then establishing his independent laboratory at the University of Colorado, Dr. Kroll’s studies on the action of anticancer drugs made extensive use of HeLa cells.

Dr. Kroll will share in approachable language the major advances made with HeLa cells that continue to serve humanity today.  He will also tell his personal story of working with Ms. Skloot and interacting with the Lacks family while serving as an inaugural board member of The Henrietta Lacks Foundation, an organization dedicated to providing medical and educational grants to descendants of those individuals who unknowingly participated in and made contributions to biomedical research.

Dr. Kroll is the author of two scientific blogs where some of his original writing on HeLa cells has appeared: Take As Directed at the PLoS Blogs network and Terra Sigillata at the CENtral Science network of the American Chemical Society’s Chemical & Engineering News.

Presented by the College of Health and Human Services, ADVANCE Faculty Affairs Office, the Office of the Provost, the Department of Social Work, and the Master of Health Administration Program.  Special thanks to Dr. Suzanne Boyd and Jim and Nancy Hill.