Of the millions of people who develop skin cancer each year in the United States, only about 3,000 are diagnosed with Merkel cell carcinoma, a very rare type of skin cancer.

Due to continual advances, some people will actually have genetic testing done multiple times in their lives.

For Anna Woloszynska, PhD, the path to running one of the nation’s top cancer research programs began nearly 4,000 miles away in forests and rivers near the Baltic Sea.