Mayo Clinic begins formal occupancy of the Richard O. Jacobson Building Monday. Work on the building

Kim David/Townsquare Media
Kim David/Townsquare Media
Kim David/Townsquare Media
Kim David/Townsquare Media
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began in the fall of 2011.  The building - located near Central Park - is home of Mayo’s new proton beam therapy program.  Although most of the construction work is finished,  physicians, scientists and technicians will calibrate and test the high tech equipment over the next 15 months.  Mayo hopes to begin treating patients with the state-of-the-art cancer fighting equipment next summer.  Mayo says its facility is among just a few in the country that will offer the pencil beam proton therapy, which is more accurate in targeting tumors with lower radiation exposure.  Mayo says the therapy is especially beneficial in the treatment of children who have cancer.  The building will operate four treatment rooms that will have an annual capacity of 1200 patients.  The new program is expected to employ about 130 staff members, including nine doctors and 10  physicists needed to oversee the proton beam equipment.  Mayo is constructing a similar program at its Arizona site.  The combined cost of both facilities is $370 million. The section of equipment in the photo above is 270 feet long - nearly the length of a football field.

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