Her interest in biomarkers for early cancer detection, specifically CA125 for ovarian cancer and prostate-specific antigen for prostate cancer started. From Boston she moved on to Seattle, Washington, to further pursue biomarker studies as faculty at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington. There she served on the Cancer Control Committee of the Southwest Oncology Group, and through its Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial. She lives for most of the year with her husband and daughter in Munich, Germany, and enjoys her long working stints back to San Antonio in her home state of Texas.