In 1989 he read an article by Kate McCabe in "Washingtonian" magazine. It was about a partnership between white surgeon Alfred Blalock and his black assistant Vivien Theodore Thomas. They developed surgical techniques that led to the advent of modern heart surgery. Sorkin was determined to see the true story made into a film. He finally saw his dream come true when HBO produced Something the Lord Made (2004) in 2004, starring Alan Rickman and Yasiin Bey.
He was a dentist in Washington, DC. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Dental School in 1944, and served in the Army Dental Corps in WWII.