A cancer researcher at the University of Arizona has died at 47 from the very disease she spent her career trying to cure.Rachna Shroff, who specialised in pancreatic and bile duct cancers, “passed away following a battle with an aggressive cancer,” the American Society of Clinical Oncology announced.Let us look at her story and the legacy she leaves behind.
Dr. Rachna Shroff, cancer researcher who spent her life fighting the disease, dies at 47
Dr. Rachna Shroff, a cancer researcher at the University of Arizona, has died at 47 from the disease she worked to defeat. According to the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), she “passed away following a battle with an aggressive cancer,” the society announced on Tuesday. She was an expert in pancreatic and bile duct cancers.According to the New York Post, she was diagnosed earlier this year with terminal adenocarcinoma, a cancer that starts in the glands and lines a patient’s organs. Doctors first thought a swollen lymph node, examined in May, meant lymphoma, a blood cancer, but the cancer had already spread. She was a mother to Sachin, 13, and Simran, 17, and was about to mark her 20th wedding anniversary with her husband, Dr. Puneet Shroff.Speaking to NBC before, she described her fight as a “journey.” She said, “I’ve spent my entire life trying to eradicate cancer, primarily pancreatic cancer but also liver cancers.”Through it all, she held on to her personal motto, “If you can’t find the sunshine, be the sunshine.” According to ASCO, “Even in the face of her own diagnosis, Dr. Shroff spent her time endeavoring to ‘be the sunshine’ for others”, that spirit shaped her final project.
She launched a Conquer Cancer Young Investigator Award
She launched a Conquer Cancer Young Investigator Award in her name, and more than $1.35 million has been raised to support the search for a cure. The University of Arizona said this was “one of her final wishes.” ASCO says the award is meant to help young gastrointestinal oncologists launch their research careers.
Her path into cancer research began early
In 1993, she won the Osler Fellowship Award, which gave her the chance to work in the University of Arizona Cancer Center laboratory. She graduated from Brown University with a biochemistry degree in 2000 and received her medical degree from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia in 2004. She worked at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston from 2010 to 2018, then joined the University of Arizona. She also authored more than 80 publications, according to the New York Post report.
