The only high-tech cancer center of its kind in South Jersey has served even more people than expected in its first year. The Penn Medicine | Virtua Health Proton Therapy Center in Voorhees has provided life-changing care for more than 150 people since it opened in 2023 — about 14% more than projected.
Patients have come from across New Jersey and as far away as Central Pennsylvania and Florida.
The facility offers the most advanced kind of radiation treatment — and greater hope for good health.
“It’s incredibly gratifying to have helped so many people in our first year,” Stephanie Fendrick, executive vice president and chief strategy officer at Virtua Health, southern New Jersey’s largest health system, said.
These initial patients have been treated for a wide range of cancers, including prostate, brain, breast, lung, liver and esophageal.
The $45 million center on the Virtua Voorhees Campus is one of just 45 such facilities in the U.S. and the only one in South Jersey. It’s part of a longstanding partnership between Virtua Health and Penn Medicine, a renowned academic medical center based in Philadelphia, and home to the Roberts Proton Therapy Center.
“The Penn-Virtua team has done a fantastic job launching this new facility and treating each patient with the same outstanding level of care they would receive at the Roberts Center,” Dr. James Metz, chair of radiation oncology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, said. “We’re excited to continue partnering with Virtua well into the future, in order to provide greater access to advanced cancer care.”
Proton therapy enables doctors to target cancer with pinpoint precision. This can help reduce the risk of side effects by avoiding damage to the surrounding, healthy tissue.
The treatment offers many advantages for people with a range of cancers, Dr. Graeme Williams, the center’s medical director, said.
“Being able to receive this world-class treatment close to home makes a huge difference to patients and their families, as the therapy is typically given five days a week for five to eight weeks,” explained the radiation oncologist.
That was the case for Glassboro resident Michael Pratt, who was treated for an aggressive form of prostate cancer last year. His treating physician from Penn Medicine referred him to the new center, which is closer to Pratt’s home than Penn’s facility in Philadelphia.
“I don’t think I would have been able to drive to Philly every day for treatment,” Pratt said, who received proton therapy for more than seven weeks at the Voorhees center.
His wife Toni accompanied him to every appointment, which usually took about an hour from start to finish, including about 20 minutes of proton treatment.
“The team there was wonderful,” the 55-year-old father of five said. “Dr. Williams became like family.”
Since he completed proton therapy in October 2023, Pratt has shown no sign of cancer.
Experienced team
While the Penn Medicine | Virtua Health Proton Therapy Center is new, it’s staffed by experienced Penn Medicine providers who trained at Penn’s Roberts Proton Therapy Center. That center has treated thousands of patients over the past 14 years and is a world leader in proton therapy research and treatment.
Moreover, the South Jersey center offers a unique feature: a proton-therapy nurse coordinator who navigates patients through the complexities of this specialized treatment, educates patients and families and connects them to other resources necessary for their cancer care and survivorship.
Benefits of proton therapy
Proton therapy is a painless, noninvasive treatment that uses a beam of high-energy protons to get rid of cancer cells. Protons are positively charged particles within an atom. Doctors, leading a team of clinical and technical experts, finely control the proton beam so it precisely hits the cancer and then stops. This prevents radiation from moving through healthy tissue and surrounding organs.
This advanced form of radiation therapy offers new potential for recovery, survival and improved quality of life. In particular, it’s an important treatment option for tumors located near highly sensitive areas (such as the spinal cord, heart, and brain) or for those that cannot be fully removed by surgery.
Proton therapy can be used for many cancer types, including brain, spine, prostate, breast, cervical, kidney, lung and oropharyngeal, as well as lymphoma and mesothelioma. It also treats gastrointestinal cancers, including anal, colon, esophageal, liver, pancreatic and rectal.
At the core of the proton therapy center is a 90-ton underground cyclotron, which accelerates sub-atomic particles to about 450 million miles per hour — which is two-thirds the speed of light. This allows clinicians to deposit the protons deep into a patient’s tissue and treat a tumor spot-by-spot while sparing the healthy tissue nearby.
The Voorhees facility is connected to the existing Penn Medicine | Virtua Health Radiation Oncology suite and is part of the comprehensive Penn Medicine | Virtua Health Cancer Program based in South Jersey. The partnership offers a full range of services, including evaluation, treatment, and access to clinical trials, some involving proton therapy.
“All of us look forward to doing even more in the coming years, to help people live longer, healthier lives after a cancer diagnosis,” Williams said.
