Southwest Florida Proton names Mark Artz as senior director of proton medical physics

ESTERO, Fla. - June 2, 2025 - PRLog -- Southwest Florida Proton has recruited Mark Artz, Ph.D., MBA, DABR, as senior director of proton medical physics.

In this pivotal role, Artz will direct the comprehensive physics operations for the first proton therapy center on Florida's west coast, including machine commissioning, treatment planning system optimization, staff development and quality assurance protocols. His leadership will be instrumental in establishing the operational framework that ensures precise, safe proton therapy delivery while building the specialized team needed to operate this advanced cancer-fighting technology.

Artz brings an exceptional track record of proton therapy leadership, having successfully commissioned and operated multiple proton therapy systems throughout his career. At the UF Health Proton Therapy Institute in Jacksonville, he served as lead physicist for pencil beam scanning operations – an advanced technique that delivers precisely targeted proton beams – while holding a faculty appointment at the University of Florida College of Medicine. He played a pivotal role in commissioning the center's newest IBA ProteusONE proton machine and led major upgrades to the original IBA ProteusPlus. His operational innovations there more than doubled treatment capacity and significantly expanded patient access to proton therapy.

Artz's career spans the full spectrum of proton therapy development and clinical implementation. His progressive leadership roles include serving as a medical physicist at the Provision Proton Therapy Center, physicist at ProNova Solutions and consulting accelerator physicist at ProCure, where he provided specialized expertise in particle accelerator systems. Earlier in his career, Artz spent two years conducting advanced research at the Plasma Science Fusion Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he developed foundational expertise in superconducting particle accelerator technology that became central to his proton therapy career.

Amassing a research portfolio comprised of nearly 30 publications, patent applications and invention disclosures, Artz' work has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals, including the International Journal of Particle Therapy, Cancers, Biophysica, Journal of Radiotherapy in Practice and Frontiers in Oncology. Artz has been the principal investigator and made significant contributions to several grants, including industry-funded research and multi-center clinical trials. His work has focused on enhancing the therapeutic ratio using Linear Energy Transfer optimization and genetic screening of tumor biopsies for DNA repair mutations leading to increased sensitivity of cancer cells to proton therapy.

Engineers are currently installing and calibrating Southwest Florida Proton's IBA ProteusONE, widely considered the most innovative and effective cancer-fighting machine in the world. Under Artz's guidance, the ProteusONE is expected to become operational in late 2025.

Artz works collaboratively with Senior Medical Director Dr. Shannon MacDonald, Associate Medical Director Dr. Todd Pezzi and Managing Partner Dr. Arie Dosoretz to establish Southwest Florida as a premier destination for advanced cancer care. For more information, please visit SWFLproton.com.