HU Receives Final Approval to Build Proton Beam Cancer Center

Hampton, VA - Hampton University has received the final approval needed to begin construction on the Hampton University Proton Beam Therapy Center, which will be used in the treatment of cancer. Approvals from the Eastern Virginia Health Systems Agency and the Virginia Department of Health led to the Center receiving the certificate of public need, a requirement for all major health-care projects in Virginia.

"This project will bring state-of-the-art cancer treatment to Virginia," said HU President William R. Harvey. "The Hampton University Proton Beam Therapy Center will ease human suffering and save lives."

Proton beam therapy is a type of radiation that can precisely target tumors while sparing surrounding tissue and causing far fewer side effects than traditional radiation. Currently there are only three other proton beam therapy centers operating in the country, located at Indiana University; Loma Linda Medical Center in Southern California and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. About 5,000 treatment slots are available at these three facilities.

The city of Hampton has donated six acres of land off Magruder Boulevard to Hampton University to construct the Proton Beam Therapy Center. Once construction begins, the $189 million Center will take 36 months to build.

The Center will treat about 2,000 patients a year and will focus primarily on prostate cancer but will also treat patients with breast, lung eye and pediatric cancers.

Traditional radiation treatments often destroy healthy tissue; therefore doctors have to limit the dose. Proton beams deliver a low dose of therapy as it enters the body and increases as it reaches the cancerous tumor and drops as it leaves the body. The physician can shape the beam to match the shape of a tumor, and so deliver most of the radiation to the targeted volume, not to the surrounding normal tissue. The unique capability sets proton radiation therapy apart from other forms of external-beam radiation therapy.

The University also recently announced plans for the Biomedical Research Center, which will focus on the research of cancers that disproportionately affect minorities. Funded by the University and a federal government agency, the Biomedical Research Center will be an on-campus interdisciplinary center for biomedical researchers.