Dr. Roland Pattillo Dies: Oncologist Who Played Pivotal Role In ‘Henrietta Lacks’ Book & Movie Was 89
deadline.comRoland A. Pattillo, the gynecologic oncologist who played a pivotal role in bringing the case of Henrietta Lacks to public awareness and was played by Ruben Santiago-Hudson in the 2017 HBO movie The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, died of Parkinson’s disease on May 3 at his home outside Atlanta.
He was 89. His death went largely unreported until recent articles in The Nation and The New York Times. Although the so-called “HeLa” cell line had been used since the 1950s for scientific research that helped develop the polio vaccine, HIV treatments and many other medical advances, the human source of the cell line – Henrietta Lacks, a 31-year-old Black woman who died of cervical cancer in 1951 – was largely unknown outside the medical community.
In the 1990s, Pattillo made it his mission to celebrate Lacks and her immense contribution to medical research. He started by finding and contacting Lacks’ surviving family members, including daughter Deborah Lacks, who, prior to her death in 2009, worked with author Rebecca Skloot on the 2010 nonfiction book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
Pattillo had introduced Skloot to the Lacks family, and provided guidance during the book’s writing. The year the book was published, HBO announced that it had secured rights for a film version to be executive produced by Oprah Winfrey and Alan Ball.
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