Southwest Florida just hit a major milestone with its first proton therapy center, now open in Lee County. This isn’t just a win for the region; it’s a big deal for anyone fighting cancer on Florida’s west coast. Until now, the closest place offering this kind of treatment was all the way in Miami.
Step inside Southwest Florida Proton and you’ll see why people are talking. The building covers 42,000 square feet, and the technology inside is no small investment. The main attraction is an $80 million proton therapy system, made in Belgium by IBA. The machine alone weighs in at 110,000 pounds, anchored by a 50,000-pound counterweight. The team needed over a year just to install and calibrate it, carving out a three-story section of the building for the job.
Here’s how it works: patients stretch out on a table, and the system delivers precise proton beams right to their tumors. Unlike traditional photon radiation, proton therapy zeroes in on the target and spares nearby healthy tissue. That kind of accuracy makes a tremendous difference, especially for tumors close to critical areas like the heart or brain. It’s also the go-to for many pediatric cancers.
The center opened its doors to patients during the last week of 2025. On January 8, seven people received treatment, and the team plans to ramp up fast with two eight-hour shifts a day, treating two or three patients each hour.
Dr. Alan Dosoretz, who started planning this project five years ago, had his share of hurdles: three hurricanes, a global pandemic, the works. But he kept things moving, bringing in Lee Health as a partner and adding a diagnostic imaging center on site. Advocate Radiation Oncology began offering conventional photon therapy here about a year ago.
A big part of the center’s story is Dr. Shannon MacDonald. Dosoretz introduced her as the associate medical director. She made the move from Boston, where she was an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and led major programs at Massachusetts General Hospital. MacDonald once taught Dosoretz in medical school, and they reconnected at a conference. He shared his vision for the new center and eventually convinced her to bring her expertise to Southwest Florida.
With the opening of this new proton therapy center, Southwest Florida isn’t just keeping up; it’s leading the way.
