One of the weirder religious manifestations of this century is The Cult of Henrietta Lacks’ Cancer Cells that is huge among NPR listeners and the like.

Now, this holiest of miracle-producing relics has its own icon. From CNN:

Notice St. Henrietta’s halo.

(CNN) Her cells are responsible for the polio vaccine, gene mapping and in vitro fertilization to name a few. But for a long time most of the public didn’t know her contribution to modern medicine. Neither did she because her cells were harvested without her consent. This week, the Smithsonian unveiled a portrait of Henrietta Lacks, the black tobacco farmer who ended up changing the world. … Lacks died in 1951 at the age of 31 from an aggressive form of cervical cancer. During her treatment, a surgeon cut cells from her cervix. Those cells became the first human cell line to reproduce outside the body. They came to be known as HeLa cells and became invaluable to medical researchers. … The New York Times best-selling book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” introduced Lacks — and what she did for medicine — to the world. An HBO film by the same name, starring Oprah Winfrey, helped disseminate her story further.

How long until Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory renames its Watson School of Biological Sciences as the Lacks School of Immortal Biological Holiness? That should be Amy Harmon’s next crusade.

Just about the only people who aren’t in awe of the sacredness of Henrietta Lacks’ Legacy are the various people claiming to be her descendants who are at war with each other over the Oprah money. From the Denver Post: