Dr Rachna Shroff, a distinguished cancer specialist and researcher based in the United States, has died. She was only 47 and died after a fight with terminal adenocarcinoma, an aggressive cancer that starts in glandular tissue.
According to the New York Post, in a tragic turn, her life was ended by the same aggressive disease she had spent her whole career studying and trying to cure.
Who was Dr Rachna Shroff?
According to a statement, Dr Shroff was an internationally respected physician-scientist and gastrointestinal oncologist, and one of the leading specialists in treating cancers of the pancreas and the bile ducts.
She held senior posts at the University of Arizona. She was chief of the university’s division of hematology and oncology, associate director for clinical investigations at the University of Arizona Cancer Center and a professor of medicine.
She was also the first holder of the John F. and Valli S. Duval Endowed Professorship for gastrointestinal oncology, and served as associate dean for clinical and translational research at the College of Medicine-Tucson.
In her career she wrote more than 80 research papers and led numerous clinical trials to bring modern treatment to patients with complex and rare cancers.
Colleagues and professional bodies, among them the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), remember her as a compassionate doctor and a pioneer who worked tirelessly to improve the lives of people with cancer.
She graduated from Brown University and earned her medical degree at Thomas Jefferson University. After completing a fellowship at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2010, she was an assistant professor of GI medical oncology there from 2010 to 2018. In 2018 she returned to her roots in Tucson and joined the University of Arizona.
How the disease was found
Her own fight with the disease began early this year, when she noticed a swollen lymph node.
It was first thought to be a kind of lymphoma, but later medical assessment found that the disease had already spread widely and become highly aggressive.
She was finally diagnosed with terminal adenocarcinoma, a cancer that begins in the glands that line the internal organs.
Personal life
She is survived by her son, 13, and her daughter, 17, and by her husband, Dr Puneet Shroff, a professor of medicine and associate director of the allergy clinic at Banner Medical Group.
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