Mayo Clinic has opened the Duan Family Building at its Jacksonville, Florida campus, which will house the first carbon ion therapy center in the Western Hemisphere

The 228,000-square-foot building is designed to support dual delivery of carbon ion and proton therapies, allowing clinicians to target treatment-resistant tumors with greater precision and minimal damage to surrounding tissue. Carbon ion therapy is known for its potential effectiveness against cancers that do not respond to traditional radiation methods.

“Carbon ion therapy and other heavy particle therapies are the advanced radiation therapies of our future,” said Dr. Cheryl Willman, executive director of the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center. “We need the advantage of these next-gen radiation tools, which can be fine-tuned to target and treat aggressive tumors.”
The Mayo Clinic, which has National Cancer Institute-designated centers in Florida, Minnesota and Arizona, is preparing to begin proton therapy at the new site in 2027, with carbon ion therapy expected to follow in 2028.

In the meantime, the facility will begin offering other cancer treatment options this summer, including photon therapy, immunotherapy, and CAR-T cell therapy. The building also features advanced imaging technology to support complex care planning.

The initiative stems from a partnership between Mayo Clinic and Hitachi, which began in 2019 to develop carbon ion therapy capabilities for the U.S. market. Though the technology originated in the U.S. in the 1970s, clinical adoption has remained limited to a small number of international centers.

Mayo Clinic researchers are also working with international partners to study additional heavy ion therapies that may be incorporated into future clinical applications.

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