She began her career doing undergraduate studies at Brown University and later earned her medical degree from Thomas Jefferson University. She completed her fellowship at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2010 and was an associate professor of gastrointestinal medical oncology at the center from 2010 to 2018, when she was recruited to UA.
Her husband, Dr. Puneet Shroff, is a clinical professor of medicine at the Tucson Medical School and associate director of the Allergy Clinic at Banner Medical Group.
The couple was just months away from their 20th anniversary, NBC News reported.
“Puneet was the reason I moved forward. And her ability to understand my point of view and her ability… to stand by me,” Rachna Shroff told NBC News.
She said her main priority was her children, daughter Simran and son Sachin, and that was all that really mattered to her.
“To have no worries, so to speak, in the world, and then to have them all at your feet at the same time, it’s both overwhelming,” Puneet Shroff told NBC News earlier this year. “But it also teaches you resilience, and I hope it teaches our children resilience. I hope, for Rachna’s sake, it gives her strength and courage.”
Simran, 17, and Sachin, 13, told NBC that her tenacity and loving nature are what they will remember about her.
One of Rachna Shroff’s final wishes was to create an award, the Conquer Cancer — Rachna Shroff, MD, MS, FASCO Endowed Young Investigator Award in Biliary Cancers. She reached this goal in a matter of weeks and raised over $1.35 million to support the future of cancer innovation.
At UA, Shroff was also named the first John F. and Valli S. Duval Endowed Professor of Gastrointestinal Oncology and served as associate dean for clinical and translational research at the Tucson College of Medicine. She had over 80 publications under her name and spoke at over 130 professional engagements.
Gn Health
