Atlanta, Aug. 24, 2009 - Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) will host the 14th Annual HeLa Women's Health Conference on Sept. 25 at the Louis W. Sullivan National Center for Primary Care at MSM. The 2009 conference will focus on cancer and reproductive health. There will be presentations on new breast cancer characteristics in African-American women, and the relationship between obesity and cancer.

In keeping with MSM's mission to improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities, the annual conference seeks to increase health care practitioners' awareness on topics related to cancer and reproductive health. More than 200 attendees are expected, including physicians specializing in obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), medical residents and students-in-training, perinatal health care delivery personnel, reproductive and environmental health specialists, social scientists, health policy officials and community reproductive health activists.

"We are excited to have University of Memphis' Rebecca Skloot as our keynote luncheon speaker at this year's conference," said Roland Pattillo, M.D., professor in MSM's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and HeLa Conference chair. "Ms. Skloot wrote a book about Henrietta Lacks and all attendees will benefit from hearing about her research in areas of health promotion and disease prevention."

The HeLa Women's Health Conference honors Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman with cervical cancer, who in 1951 unknowingly donated her cancer cells when a young resident saved some of her diseased cells before administering treatment. Lacks died a few months later, but the first immortal human cell was developed from her saved cells (named HeLa). Use of HeLa cells has led to the Polio vaccine development, as well as, important advancements in in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene and stem cell research.

14th Annual HeLa Women's Health Conference: "Cancer and Reproductive Health"

For pre-registration information, please go to www.msm.edu.