Celebrating the Opening of the National Proton Center at Sibley Memorial Hospital

To the Johns Hopkins Medicine community

Dear Colleagues,

We are very excited to celebrate the opening of the Johns Hopkins National Proton Center at Sibley Memorial Hospital.

This opening marks the culmination of more than seven years of hard work by a great number of people. We can now offer our patients another cutting-edge option in cancer care — we think this treatment will make a real difference in the lives of many patients.

The center will provide to both adult and pediatric patients extremely precise cancer treatment, as well as access to nationally recognized specialists. Pediatric care will be delivered in collaboration with Children’s National Hospital. It is one of only a few centers in the world with a dedicated pediatric team.

The new center will also help our research: We are one of just a handful of programs nationwide conducting clinical trials that compare proton therapy with more traditional radiation.

The center is directed by Christina Tsien, who joins us from Washington University in St. Louis, where she was chief of the central nervous system service, director of clinical research, and co-medical director of stereotactic radiosurgery and the gamma knife center. She has impressive expertise in this area, and we look forward to seeing the center flourish under her leadership.

We especially want to thank several people who were instrumental in bringing this vision to reality: Theodore DeWeese, vice dean for clinical affairs and president of the Clinical Practice Association at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; William Nelson, the Marion I. Knott Director and Professor of Oncology, and director of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins; Akila Viswanathan, interim director of the Department of Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences; Kelli Gress, senior administrator for the Department of Radiation Oncology; and Caroline Shafa, vice president of operations at Sibley Memorial Hospital. We also thank two physicians at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Sibley who have done a great deal in leading this project: Curtiland Deville, clinical director of radiation oncology, and Matthew Ladra, director of pediatric radiation oncology.

We encourage you to read a story about the center in Dome. This project is yet another example of how Johns Hopkins Medicine is moving boldly into the future to ensure that our patients receive the best care possible.

Sincerely,

Paul B. Rothman, M.D.
Dean of the Medical Faculty
CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine

Kevin W. Sowers, M.S.N., R.N., F.A.A.N.
President, Johns Hopkins Health System
EVP, Johns Hopkins Medicine

Hasan A. Zia, M.D., M.B.A., F.A.C.S.
Interim President and Chief Executive Officer
Sibley Memorial Hospital