Imagine going to the doctor for your annual checkup, providing a small sample of blood or saliva for testing, and learning a few days later whether you’re in the clear or dealing with the early stages of cancer. Identifying the dread disease that early would increase your chances of survival, as well as minimize your pain and the disruption to your family. More people would be spared the terror of suddenly learning they have stage 4 cancer, with only months to live.

Such a test, referred to as a liquid biopsy, is the goal of clinical scientist Lynn Sorbara, who has spent years of her distinguished career at the National Institutes of Health working on its development. Sorbara chose to go into medical research when doctors were unable to diagnose her father, whose family was from Calabria, as she, her Sicilian-born mother and her younger brother watched on anxiously.