Cancer Researcher Who Dedicated Her Life to the Disease Dies at 47

A Life Defined by the Fight Against Cancer

Dr. Rachna Shroff, the internationally recognized cancer researcher, died on October 11 at age 47 after developing the same aggressive disease she spent her career fighting. The cruelty of that irony was not lost on her colleagues, her patients, or the broader medical community. And yet, in her final months, Shroff responded not with despair, but with a clarity of purpose that defined everything she had ever done.

Shroff served as the John F. and Valli S. Duval Endowed Professor in Gastrointestinal Oncology at the University of Arizona. She built an international reputation for her work on cholangiocarcinoma, commonly known as bile duct cancer, as well as pancreatic and other hepatobiliary cancers. These diseases are widely considered understudied and underfunded relative to their mortality and broader societal impact — a reality Shroff worked tirelessly to change.

A Diagnosis That Sharpened Her Focus

In May 2026, Shroff was diagnosed with cancer after finding a swollen lymph node. Doctors first suspected lymphoma, but it turned out to be adenocarcinoma originating from the stomach or intestine area. The disease spread rapidly. For most people, such a diagnosis would mean stepping back. For Shroff, it meant stepping forward.

Despite the diagnosis, Shroff continued working and advocating for cancer patients. She attended a major cancer conference shortly after learning she had the disease and told NBC News' Anne Thompson, "I've spent my entire life trying to eradicate cancer." Living with cancer of unknown primary, she decided there was something concrete she could do: create a permanent source of funding for the next generation of researchers working in the field. Her own experience with aggressive disease "has only sharpened my focus on what matters most," she wrote in a post to friends and colleagues.

A Legacy Funded by More Than $1.35 Million

As attention turns to her legacy, the University of Arizona Cancer Center highlighted one of Shroff's final accomplishments: establishing the Conquer Cancer–Rachna Shroff, MD, MS, FASCO Endowed Young Investigator Award in Biliary Cancers. Supporters helped raise more than $1.35 million to permanently fund future cancer research in her name. More than six hundred donors contributed to the campaign, which surpassed its goal.

Shroff's research trajectory was ignited early on by a Conquer Cancer Young Investigator Award, sparking decades of dedication to finding lifesaving advancements. The endowed award she created is, in many ways, a full-circle tribute — ensuring that the same kind of early-career support that launched her own path will now do the same for future researchers. The endowment will support early-career researchers studying bile duct cancer.

A Community Mourns, and Carries On

Shroff's interest in oncology began as a Tucson high school student, when a research fellowship brought her into a University of Arizona laboratory. She later returned to Tucson in 2018 after working at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The American Society of Clinical Oncology paid tribute to her contributions to cancer research and patient care. She is survived by her husband, Dr. Puneet Shroff, and children, Simran and Sachin.

What Shroff leaves behind is more than grief. It is infrastructure — a funded award, a generation of mentored researchers, and a body of clinical work on cancers that the medical world had long overlooked. Throughout her career, she advocated for clinical trials that could give patients access to emerging treatments. That advocacy now lives on in every researcher her endowment will one day support, and in every patient whose treatment options expand because of the field she helped build.