Named the Roberts Proton Therapy Center, it will be located on Civic Center Boulevard, the site of the former Philadelphia Civic Center, which is across from the hospital's main campus. As GlobeSt.com previously reported, UPHS and Children's Hospital acquired the 19-acre site from Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. in 2005 and call it the South Campus Research Complex. The underground proton center will be adjacent to the $302-million Raymond and Ruth Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, now under construction.

Proton therapy is a precise form of radiation therapy that targets a beam of high-dose radiation to a specific tumor site, decreasing damage to surrounding tissue, making it possible to treat tumors close to critical organs, such as the brain and spinal chord. Equipped by Belgium-based Ion Beam Application SA, this will be the largest proton therapy center in the world, one of six in the US and the only one between Florida and Boston.

In conjunction with its opening, UPHS will begin a relationship with Walter Reed Medical Center, which will make proton therapy available to US military personnel. "We have always been known as a place of collaborative thinking and cross-disciplinary teamwork," said Ralph Muller, UPHS CEO, in a statement. This addition, he adds, will enhance UPHS and Children's Hospital's "combined efforts to explore the most effective uses of this innovative treatment."