2020 Online Salon
Proton Power
Project Details
- Entrant Name: Jennifer Fairman
- Membership Type: Professional Submission
- Address: Baltimore, Maryland USA
- Client: Johns Hopkins Medicine (Alumni Magazine), Sue DePasquale (Editor) Max Boam (Art Director)
- Copyright: 2020 Johns Hopkins University
- Medium/software used: Graphite pencil, Adobe Illustrator 3D, Adobe Photoshop
- Final presentation format: Hopkins Medicine Magazine, Winter 2020 Issue; (printed spread and online at hopkinsmedicine.org/news/articles/proton-power)
- Primary Audience: Johns Hopkins Faculty, Students, Alumni and Educated Lay Public
Project Description
This spread illustrates the benefits of Proton Therapy, an innovative approach to cancer treatment used at the new Johns Hopkins Proton Therapy Center.
A blueprint introduces the Center’s layout which houses three treatment rooms and one research lab. The synchrotron, a particle accelerator, produces a proton beam of hydrogen atoms from water molecules. A high-energy beam exits the synchrotron and travels to a gantry where radiation is focused with pencil-beam precision to treat tumors, breaking down genetic materials in cancer cells. Unlike traditional radiation therapy which uses X-rays that damage adjacent healthy tissues, proton therapy delivers higher-dose radiation treatment targeted only to cancer cells, sparing nearby vital organs. Patients experience fewer short- and long-term side effects and lower risk for secondary cancers. Proton therapy can be especially beneficial to children, reducing excess radiation that can impair growth, cognition, fertility, vision or hearing.
