Dr. Rachel D. Aufforth, MD

Expert Publications

• Modular microsystem for the isolation, enumeration, and phenotyping of circulating tumor cells in patients with pancreatic cancer.
• Emerging therapy for adrenocortical carcinoma.
• Pheochromocytoma Screening Initiation and Frequency in von Hippel-Lindau Syndrome.
• Adrenocortical carcinoma: modern management and evolving treatment strategies.

Media Releases

Get to know Surgical Oncologist & Endocrine Surgeon Dr. Rachel D. Aufforth, who serves patients in Minnesota.

Dr. Aufforth is a highly skilled and compassionate surgical oncologist & endocrine surgeon with Allina Health. She operates out of the following locations: Allina Health Coon Rapids Clinic, Piper Breast Center – St. Paul, Virginia Piper Cancer Institute – St. Paul, and United Hospital.

Her professional interests include adrenal tumors, breast cancer, colon cancer, endocrine surgery, gastric cancer, melanoma, rectal cancer, soft tissue tumors, and thyroid cancer. She also offers face-to-face virtual visits for a variety of health services and conditions.

Allina Health is dedicated to the prevention and treatment of illness and enhancing the greater health of individuals, families, and communities throughout Minnesota and western Wisconsin. A not-for-profit health care system, it cares for patients from beginning to end-of-life. Its mission is to “serve our communities by providing exceptional care, as we prevent illness, restore health and provide comfort to all who entrust us with their care.”

With a desire to become a provider because of her love of anatomy, surgical disease and desire to help people, Dr. Aufforth is passionate about providing all patients, from every walk of life, with state-of-the-art cancer and endocrine surgery. Her practice philosophy is to treat every patient as if they are family and provide them with outstanding, top-notch cancer and endocrine surgical care.

Something that she has learned from her patients is surgery is scary and it is crucial to take an extra moment to reassure them, explain what is happening, and listen to their concerns/fears/anxieties. One of the challenges of her career that she enjoys is cancer surgery because there is constantly new research and data to improve patient outcomes. She loves sharing this information with her patients and their loved ones. 

A native of Bowbells, North Dakota, Dr. Aufforth graduated with her undergraduate degree from Concordia College. She is most proud of spending a year as an Americorp Member building houses with Habitat for Humanity in inner-city Milwaukee after college and before medical school. 

After earning her medical degree from the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences in 2006, she went on to perform her internship and residency in general surgery at Ascension St. John Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. She followed this up with a fellowship in surgical oncology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a surgical research and clinical fellowship in endocrine oncology at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.

Providing the best surgical care for cancer, she is board-certified in general surgery by the American Board of Surgery (ABS). The ABS is an independent, non-profit organization located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, founded for the purpose of certifying surgeons who have met a defined standard of education, training, and knowledge.

Continuously advancing her profession, Dr. Aufforth is a member of the American College of Surgeons (Associate Member), and the Society of Surgical Oncology.

Surgical oncology is the branch of surgery applied to oncology. It focuses on the surgical management of tumors, especially cancerous tumors. A surgical oncologist removes the tumor and nearby tissue during surgery. He or she also performs certain types of biopsies to help diagnose cancer.

When asked if she wasn’t a provider, what would she be, Dr. Aufforth answered “I would be a photographer with National Geographic.”

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