University of Pennsylvania alumni Ralph J. Roberts and his son Brian L. Roberts have pledged $15 million to help create the first-of-its-kind proton therapy center for the treatment of cancer.
Scheduled to open in 2009, the Roberts Proton Therapy Center will fully integrate conventional radiation treatment with proton radiation, which more accurately targets tumors and leaves surrounding healthy tissue unaffected. Proton therapy is the most precise form of advanced radiation therapy available to treat certain cancers and other diseases. Proton therapy results in less side effects and clinical complications for patients, and it enhances physicians' ability to treat tumors close to critical organs and the spinal cord.