Board of Directors

Rebecca Skloot (president and founder) is the author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. She has a BS in biological sciences and an MFA in nonfiction writing. She has taught science writing at New York University, University of California Berkeley, and others. You can learn more about Rebecca at www.rebeccaskloot.com

Dr. Roland Pattillo (vice president) is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Morehouse School of Medicine, where he founded and has organized the annual HeLa Health Symposium, now in its 21st year. He was the first African American student of George Gey, the scientist who first cultured the HeLa cell line at Johns Hopkins.

Dr. David Kroll (secretary) is a science writer who contributes regularly to Forbes. He was Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology at NCState and Director of Science Communication at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

Dr. Clyde Yancy, MD, MSc, is vice dean for Diversity and Inclusion, Magerstadt Professor and chief of Cardiology in the Department of Medicine, and a member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). Dr. Yancy co-chaired the NIH HeLa Genome Working Group from 2013 to 2017.

Monica Kearson is a Human Resources Business Partner at McCormick & Company, Inc. in Hunt Valley, MD. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Coppin University and a Master’s Degree in Human Resource Development from Towson University.