By Vincent Lim
Hole in the Head: A Life Revealed, an award-winning documentary that tells the shocking and inspiring life story of Vertus Hardiman—the victim of a horrifying medical experiment—was presented by the USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging and Visions and Voices.
Karen Lincoln, associate professor at the USC School of Social Work and associate director of the Roybal Institute, organized the event to start a conversation about the travesties that have occurred in the name of research, particularly among African-American participants in medical studies.
“This is a university where we engage in a variety of different types of research,” said moderator William Vega, Provost Professor and executive director of the Roybal Institute. “What this film brings to the forefront is the critical issue of seriously becoming more aware—for people engaging in research and initiating research and who have a vested interest in research going forward and being successful—to always be mindful of what they’re involved in and what’s at stake for everyone.”
Hole in the Head describes the circumstances in which Hardiman and nine other children from Lyles Station, Ind., were experimented on with radiation at a county hospital in 1927.