Project brings health systems together for advanced cancer care

On Oct. 24, Yale New Haven Health and Hartford HealthCare officials broke ground on the Connecticut Proton Therapy Center at 932 Northrop Road, Wallingford. Only a handful of facilities in the Northeast offer this advanced therapy, which uses a high-energy beam of protons to irradiate many solid cancer tumors of the brain and central nervous system, eye, gastrointestinal tract, head and neck, liver, lung, prostate, spine and breast. It is particularly beneficial for children, who are more vulnerable to radiation damage and cancers difficult to target with traditional radiation therapy. The Proton Therapy Center will be run by physicians and clinical colleagues from Yale Medicine and Radiation Oncology, with assistance from Proton International, a company that works with hospitals and physician groups to develop proton therapy facilities. Construction is expected to be completed by mid-2026.