1895: German physicist W.C. Roentgen discovers X-rays, making detection of tumors in the body much easier and non-invasive.  Roentgen later wins the Nobel Prize in Physics for this discovery.

1919: British physicist Ernest Rutherford demonstrates the existence of protons (elementary particles found in atoms).

1931: American physicist Ernest O. Lawrence invents the Cyclotron, a machine used in proton therapy, which accelerates charged particles to high energy levels.

1937: The first clinical use of X-ray radiation therapy is carried out for the treatment of a patient with leukemia at the University of California at Berkeley.  Congress passes the National Cancer Institute Act that authorizes annual funding for cancer research in the United States. 

1946: American physicist Robert Wilson publishes a study that suggests protons could be used to treat cancer because they are capable of delivering an increased dose of radiation to a tumor while simultaneously decreasing radiation exposure to surrounding healthy tissue. 

1948: The first proton therapy experiments are conducted at the University of California at Berkeley.  Tumors are effectively removed from the chest and lungs of animals. 

1954: The University of California at Berkeley treats the first patient with protons. Patients are treated with proton therapy at other research institutions, including Harvard University in Boston.

1980s: Advances in imaging technology, including CT imaging, MRI and PET scans, help researchers to better diagnose and visualize tumors, making proton therapy a more practical treatment option.

1990: The first hospital-based proton treatment center in the United States is built at Loma Linda University Medical Center in Loma Linda, Calif. 

2001: The first patient is treated at Harvard/Massachusetts General Hospital's Francis H. Burr Proton Therapy Center in Boston, the second hospital-based proton treatment center in the United States.

2003: The Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute (MPRI), the third proton therapy center in the United States, opens in Bloomington, Ind.

2005: Dr. John Cameron, a pioneer in the field of particle physics who was instrumental in the development of MPRI, founds ProCure Treatment Centers, Inc. to improve the lives of patients with cancer by increasing access to proton therapy.

2006: The first patient is treated with proton therapy at M.D. Anderson Cancer Treatment Center in Houston and University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute (UFPTI) in Jacksonville.

2009: The first ProCure Proton Therapy Center in Oklahoma City opens July 8, 2009. It is the sixth center to open in the United States.

2009: The University of Pennsylvania Roberts Proton Therapy Center opens in Philadelphia. Other centers continue to be developed, including Hampton University Proton Therapy Institute (to open 2010) and ProCure's center in suburban Chicago (to open early 2011).

Web site:  www.procure.com

Media Contact:
Andrea Johnson, PCI
312/558-1770
ajohnson@pcipr.com