Levine family donates $7.5 million to bring ‘cancer innovations’ to Atrium Health
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
The family of the late Leon Levine, the Family Dollar founder who died this year, has committed $7.5 million to Atrium Health’s efforts to fight cancer, Atrium announced on Monday.
The Leon Levine Foundation has donated more than $80 million to Atrium Health over the course of the organizations’ relationship. In recognition, all of Atrium’s cancer services in the Carolinas will now be aligned under the name Atrium Health Levine Cancer, Atrium announced.
The new donation to Atrium Health Foundation’s “Giving Hope” campaign will be used to “advance research and bring the latest cancer innovations in precision medicine to the Carolinas,” the Charlotte-based health system said in a news release.
One effort the gift will fund is Atrium’s new radiation therapy facility, which is being built near Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center just outside of uptown Charlotte, the release said.
The facility will house gamma knife radiosurgery — a type of radiation therapy used to treat tumors, vascular malformations and other abnormalities in the brain — and the Carolinas’ first proton beam therapy, a type of radiation therapy that uses protons rather than x-rays, Atrium said.
Together, two programs within Atrium Health Levine Cancer (Levine Cancer Institute and Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center) represent the largest cancer program in the Carolinas and one of the largest programs in the Southeast, Atrium said.
“When we made our gift to support the first Levine Cancer Institute facility, which opened in 2012, our vision was to help change the course of cancer care in the Carolinas,” said Sandra Levine, whose late husband, Leon, died in April at age 85. “We felt strongly that everyone should have access to the most current treatment options, close to home.
Ruben Mesa, president of Atrium Health Levine Cancer and executive director of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist’s Comprehensive Cancer Center, wrote this: “Together, our team at Atrium Health Levine Cancer will prevent, detect, treat and help more patients survive cancer.”
