Mayo Clinic’s Jacksonville campus will become the first campus in the United States and the only campus in the Western Hemisphere to offer carbon ion therapy, a cutting-edge treatment for difficult-to-treat cancers, officials announced Thursday.
At a press conference, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and First Lady Casey DeSantis, along with Mayo Clinic President and CEO Dr. Kent Thielen, announced an advanced program scheduled to begin treating patients in 2028.
This announcement follows the expansion of Mayo Clinic’s cancer care in Jacksonville with the June 2025 opening of the 228,000 square foot Duan Family Building, designed to house both proton and carbon ion therapy technologies. Proton therapy, another advanced radiation therapy, is scheduled to begin in 2027.
First Lady Casey DeSantis, a breast cancer survivor, highlighted the impact of state support for innovative treatments and research, saying this new treatment will offer hope to patients “not found anywhere else in the Western Hemisphere.”
In the meantime, Mayo Clinic patients will have access to a variety of services at the Jacksonville facility, including photon therapy, immunotherapy, CAR-T cell therapy and advanced imaging, officials said.
