Oncologist Dr Rachna Shroff, biliary cancer expert at University of Arizona, dies of cancer at 47
The gastrointestinal cancer specialist, who raised over $1.3 million for young researchers after her own terminal diagnosis, died at 47, according to ASCO and the University of Arizona.
Dr Rachna Shroff, a US oncologist known for her work on pancreatic and biliary tract cancers, has died of cancer at the age of 47, according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and Arizona news outlets. The Cancer Letter, in an update to an earlier article, said she died on 11 October.
Her illness
Reports describe her cancer as aggressive but differ on how they classify it. AZPM, citing the University of Arizona, said it was a gastrointestinal cancer, the field she studied. The Cancer Letter said she had been living with cancer of unknown primary. ASCO and ABC15 did not specify the type. AZPM reported that she received a terminal diagnosis earlier this year.
Career
Dr Shroff spent her first eight years in practice at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas before returning to Arizona, where she grew up, The ASCO Post said. At the time of her death she held several senior roles:
- Associate Director of Clinical Investigations, University of Arizona Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Chief, Division of Hematology and Oncology, University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson
- Medical Director, Oncology Service Line, Banner Health
- Associate Editor of ASCO Daily News and former chair of ASCO’s Cancer Communications Committee
ASCO credited her with building up the university’s gastrointestinal clinical research programme and with mentoring younger oncologists through several of the society’s programmes.
A fund to outlast her
While undergoing treatment, she set out to endow the Conquer Cancer – Rachna Shroff, MD, MS, FASCO Young Investigator Award in Biliary Cancer, which will support early-career researchers. The Cancer Letter said nearly 600 donors met the $1.35 million target within two months; AZPM put the sum raised at over $1.3 million. “Because of my health, I have a profound desire to see this endowment come to fruition now,” she told The Cancer Letter.
In a 2025 interview with ABC15, she said, “I tell my patients all the time that they are doing the hard work.” She is survived by her husband, Dr Puneet Shroff, and their two children, AZPM reported.
Sources: The ASCO Post, AZPM, ABC15 Arizona, The Cancer Letter
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