Believe in Progress: an American Association for Cancer Resear…

In this episode, we explore a quiet revolution underway in cancer care. Instead of a painful biopsy or months of anxious waiting between scans, a single vial of blood may be able to indicate whether cancer is present, whether it is responding to treatment, or whether it has returned. The technology is here today. Most patients do not know it exists.

Two women sit on opposite sides of the same mission: one builds the infrastructure that makes cancer blood tests trustworthy, the other depends on that infrastructure to know if her cancer is coming back.

Lauren C. Leiman is the Executive Director of BLOODPAC, the Blood Profiling Atlas in Cancer, a consortium of industry, academic, regulatory, patient advocacy, and professional society stakeholders working to ensure liquid biopsy tests are designed and validated in a way that fosters clinician trust and improves patient care. Lauren came to this work from the White House Cancer Moonshot.

Mary Royal is a breast cancer survivor and patient advocate diagnosed in late 2023 through a routine mammogram she almost canceled. After bilateral mastectomy, chemotherapy, and 38 sessions of radiation, her oncologist recommended a Personalis ctDNA test that creates a personalized molecular fingerprint of her cancer and screens for traces of recurrence in her bloodstream. Mary was initially hesitant. She describes more than 13 tests since January 2024, and what once felt like a source of anxiety has become a source of reassurance. She calls herself “Mary 2.0,” her second chance.

Together, Lauren and Mary discuss what liquid biopsy is, the emotional reality of choosing to know, the difference between treatment selection, molecular residual disease (MRD), and multi-cancer early detection, the access gap that leaves patients in rural and underserved communities without these tests, and Mary's reflection that patients today are still launching to the moon while patients in just a few years will already be on it.

Featured Guests: Lauren C. Leiman, Executive Director, BLOODPAC; Mary Royal, Breast Cancer Survivor and Patient Advocate

Lauren previously served on the White House Cancer Moonshot Task Force, during the Obama Administration, with prior experience on Wall Street and in philanthropy.

Mary is a marathon runner, mom of four, and works at a child advocacy center.

Key Topics:

· Mary's diagnosis: an almost-canceled mammogram in 2023

· Bilateral mastectomy, chemotherapy, and 38 sessions of radiation

· What liquid biopsy is and how ctDNA testing works

· Mary's experience with more than 13 ctDNA tests over two years

· The emotional reality of monitoring for recurrence

· “What is the point of science if we don't use it?”

· Treatment selection, MRD, and multi-cancer early detection

· The accessibility gap between academic centers and rural communities

· BLOODPAC's expansion into hematology

· The multi-omics, multi-modal future of precision medicine