Penn Medicine breaks ground on cancer center at Princeton Health
The $401 million project will expand access to advanced health care for patients and families in Central New Jersey and beyond.
On Monday, October 20, Penn Medicine leaders and regional community representatives broke ground on the Penn Medicine Princeton Cancer Center—a transformative $401 million project that will deliver a full spectrum of cancer services to patients in Central New Jersey.
Located on the campus of Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center, the 200,000-square-foot center is scheduled to open in May 2028.
"A cancer diagnosis disrupts routines and introduces a level of uncertainty that touches everything in a patient’s life,” said Kevin B. Mahoney, CEO of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. “Across Penn Medicine, we continually work to ease that burden by improving access, convenience, and support throughout every step of treatment. The Penn Medicine Princeton Cancer Center will help us deliver cutting-edge research and clinical innovations to Central New Jersey, ensuring care that is close to home, carefully coordinated, and deeply compassionate.”
The project, which includes a recently completed 6-story parking garage and a planned imaging center, is the largest expansion of Princeton Health since the new hospital opened in 2012. The new cancer center will house more than 40 exam rooms, 30 infusion chairs, and two linear accelerators to deliver radiation therapy.
The center will also feature a breast imaging center and advanced diagnostic technologies including CT, MRI, and SPECT/CT, which provides clearer images at lower radiation doses and enables physicians to both detect cancer earlier and guide treatment with greater precision.
“This is a significant first step in our efforts to redefine cancer care in Central New Jersey,” said Princeton Health CEO James Demetriades. “The Penn Medicine Princeton Cancer Center will offer patients seamless access to clinical trials, personalized therapies, and coordinated care across our entire health system.”
Staffed by disease-specific physicians and multidisciplinary teams working in concert with experts from the Abramson Cancer Center in Philadelphia, the Princeton Cancer Center will offer comprehensive treatment under one roof.
Patients will also be connected to advanced services available at other Penn Medicine locations including proton therapy, specialized surgery, and personalized cell therapies. An integrated care model will ensure that the patient’s electronic medical record is available to caregivers throughout Penn Medicine, and that they can receive as much care—such as pre-and post-operative check-ups—close to home as possible.
The Cancer Center will feature a blend of forward-thinking design with environmental stewardship, targeting prestigious LEED Gold certification and continuing the system’s efforts to become the nation’s most environmentally friendly health care organization. Green roofs will be incorporated across all canopies and oncology vaults to minimize the heat island effect, and rain gardens will capture excess water run-off.
Energy recovery technology will play a key part in the facility, providing 100 percent outside air while exceeding energy efficiency standards and renewable energy purchasing will supply 50 percent of the project’s annual energy demand.
The project continues Penn Medicine’s longstanding history of environmental stewardship in construction projects. The Clifton Center for Medical Breakthroughs on the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania campus became the largest LEED Healthcare Gold certified building when it opened in 2021, followed by Penn Medicine Radnor, another LEED Gold certified facility, which opened in 2022. Penn Medicine Montgomeryville, currently under construction, is also targeting LEED Gold certification. Penn Medicine Princeton Cancer Center represents another substantial step in Penn’s ambitious sustainability roadmap, directly supporting Penn’s institutional commitments to reduce operational carbon emissions by 50 percent across all campuses by 2030, with full net-zero operational carbon emissions targeted by 2042.