WLWT, Local 12: Jerry Springer's death puts pancreatic cancer, called a silent killer, under microscope
UC expert says UC labs are working to increase survival rates
The recent death of former Cincinnati mayor and talk show host Jerry Springer is bringing pancreatic cancer into the spotlight. WLWT-TV interviewed Syed Ahmad, MD, Chief, Section of Surgical Oncology, Hayden Family Endowed Chair for Cancer Research at the UC College of Medicine about the disease.
"The pancreas is upper abdomen, behind the stomach. So it's right here," Dr. Syed Ahmad said, moving his hands across the middle section of his upper body. "So when patients develop abdominal pain, it’s usually right here, radiating to the back."
He said pain that radiates from the abdomen to a person's back could signal a case of pancreatic cancer.
Syed Ahmad, MD, Chief, Section of Surgical Oncology; Hayden Family Endowed Chair for Cancer Research/Photo/Colleen Kelley/UC Marketing + Brand
"It's a silent cancer, and that's why it's a bad cancer," said Ahmad, who also serves as codirector of the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center. "Unfortunately, pancreas cancer does not get diagnosed until later stages because it remains asymptomatic until it gets to the later stages."
Ahmad and his colleagues are doing research on pancreatic cancer in multiple labs, and they're using screening programs to check people who have a family history of the disease. Their goal is to significantly boost the disease's survival rate.
"We have labs looking at how the pancreas cancer cells survive, how they multiply and spread and ways to stop it," Ahmad said. "It's one of the most deadly cancers that we treat."
WLWT-TV reported that doctors are working to learn more specifics about what causes pancreatic cancer. One of the biggest causes, according to Ahmad, is smoking cigarettes.
Davendra Sohal, MD, associate director of clinical research at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center, spoke about pancreatic cancer research with Local 12.
“There has been success in one category or sub-type of KRAS mutations in the tumor," Sohal said. "There are many KRAS mutations in pancreatic cancer. Almost all of it has it, and that has been targeted. We have scientists in the lab here working on KRAS pathways, as well as clinical trials for patients."
Lead image of Jerry Springer/Chris Williamson/Getty Images
Next Lives Here
The University of Cincinnati is classified as a Research 1 institution by the Carnegie Commission and is ranked in the National Science Foundation's Top-35 public research universities. UC's graduate students and faculty investigate problems and innovate solutions with real-world impact. Next Lives Here.
Related Stories
UC dining halls designed with creating community in mind
January 23, 2026
Building Design + Construction magazine features UC’s MarketPointe and On the Green dining halls as examples of students spaces designed to create a sense of community on a college campus.
UC alum making historic waves
January 23, 2026
Christopher Bak is a UC Lindner alum making history. His gold at the 2025 World Championships was his third win and fifth time medaling overall. Bak’s achievements put him in the running for World Rowing’s Men’s Crew of the Year, a competitive award with only three nominees across the globe. Winners will be announced at the World Rowing Awards hosted at Switzerland’s Olympic Museum on Jan. 24. Not only is Bak in the running, but his coach, a UC faculty member, is nominated as well. Mark Oria, assistant professor of research at the UC College of Medicine, is one of four finalists for World Rowing’s Coach of the Year. The two have been working together since Oria joined the coaching team at UC back in 2017.
The mind after the storm
January 23, 2026
UC associate professor of counseling and trauma-informed counselor Amanda La Guardia discusses how domestic violence affects the brain, identity and long-term healing on the podcast “Is Anybody Out There?”