Cancer patients in Tampa Bay are about to get a powerful new option a lot closer to home. Two of the region’s biggest health systems say they will open proton therapy units, ending years of long drives and temporary relocations to other Florida cities for this highly targeted form of radiation. Both centers are expected to be treating patients in the back half of 2026.
According to the Tampa Bay Business Journal, Moffitt Cancer Center and BayCare are both moving ahead with proton therapy plans, pulling together details from recent press releases and schedule updates from each system.
Moffitt’s Speros campus will house IBA’s Proteus®ONE
Moffitt plans to install IBA’s Proteus®ONE compact proton system at its Speros Outpatient Center in Land O’ Lakes, with patient treatments expected to begin around the end of July 2026. As noted by Moffitt Cancer Center, the system was shipped from Belgium and is slated to boost the NCI-designated center’s capacity for complex cases and clinical trials.
BayCare’s MEVION unit is already in place at St. Joseph’s
BayCare reports that its MEVION S250-FIT proton accelerator was hoisted into St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa in October 2025, a moment director of operations Jennifer Kotwicki called “a major milestone” in a BayCare news release. The health system expects to begin treating patients with the unit by mid-2026.
How proton therapy differs from standard radiation…