Mayo Clinic Breaking Ground for $182 Million Proton Beam Therapy Facility

Friday, December 09, 2011

Phoenix, Ariz. — Mayo Clinic will break ground for a cutting edge cancer therapy facility on December 13 at its hospital campus in Phoenix. Construction begins this month for a massive $182 million facility to house Mayo Clinic's Proton Beam Therapy program — marking a new era in cancer treatment.

Phoenix Mayor-elect Greg Stanton will be among the speakers featured at the event.

Proton beam therapy is a better targeted and precise way of administering radiation therapy. It allows delivery of higher doses of radiation to malignant and benign tumors, while simultaneously minimizing the damage to surrounding healthy tissue and organs. The goal is to most precisely target protons to ensure they only treat cancerous tumors and spare healthy tissue and organs, maximizing the ability to cure more cancers and help people live longer.

A similar facility is under construction at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

WHAT: Groundbreaking for a facility to house Mayo Clinic's Proton Beam Therapy Program in Arizona

WHO: Speakers include: Phoenix Mayor-elect Greg Stanton; John Noseworthy, M.D., president and CEO, Mayo Clinic; Wyatt Decker, M.D., vice president and CEO, Mayo Clinic in Arizona; Steven Schild, M.D., chair, Mayo Clinic Department of Radiation Oncology; Michele Halyard, M.D., associate professor of Radiation Oncology, Mayo Clinic; and William Stone, associate professor of surgery, Mayo Clinic.

WHEN: 8:30 a.m., Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011

WHERE: Mayo Clinic Phoenix campus, 5777 E. Mayo Blvd., (56th street and the 101)

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