Henrietta Lacks honored with a vibrant new mural by the Baltimore community.

Shawn Berkins and the Baltimore community celebrated the woman behind modern medical breakthroughs during Henrietta Lacks Paint Day.Do you like this personality?

Artist Shawn Berkins and Baltimore locals paid tribute to Henrietta Lacks at the Community Paint Day held in her honor.

In July, community members joined Shawn Berkins to help complete the mural, bringing Henrietta Lacks’ story and image to life. At its center is a striking portrait of Lacks, installed near Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Berkins shared with WMAR Baltimore the importance of shining a light on Lacks’ story.

“We can bring awareness to her full story—about her immortal cells and how she’s impacted the world on a global scale,” said Berkins in an interview with WMAR Baltimore.

The mural was commissioned by Nosreme Baltimore, a local organization that began the initiative in 2017 with the goal of honoring one of the most pivotal figures in modern medicine. Beyond that, the project brought the Baltimore community together in a shared effort to recognize Henrietta Lacks.

Ariana Parish, executive director of Nosreme, emphasized the mural’s location near Johns Hopkins Hospital—a key site in Lacks’s story and a leading medical research institution. “How can we honor Henrietta Lacks right here in this neighborhood … in the heart of the medical campus?” Parish said.

A formal unveiling is scheduled for late September, but the mural already serves as a striking tribute to a woman whose cells changed the world—and whose legacy is finally being celebrated.

Lacks’s cells, taken without her consent in 1951, became the first immortal human cell line, known as HeLa. These cells were instrumental in major medical breakthroughs, from the polio vaccine to cancer treatments. Despite their widespread use, Lacks and her family received no recognition or compensation for decades.

Since 1951, the immortal HeLa cells have been used in countless scientific research studies. In response, Henrietta Lacks’ descendants have filed lawsuits against several pharmaceutical companies that profited from her cells without consent.