Chelsea owner donates $20m to Israeli hospital for nuclear medicine center
Jewish billionaire Roman Abramovich finances department with particle accelerator in latest gift to Sheba Medical Center
Russian-Jewish billionaire and Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich has donated $20 million toward a new nuclear medical center at Israel’s largest hospital.
A statement from the Sheba Medical Center this week said the Ramat Gan hospital was in the early stages of building a 2,000-square meter, three-story diagnostic and research center for nuclear medicine, molecular imaging and research.
The new facility will house a cyclotron, a particle accelerator that can accurately pinpoint and kill cancer cells using radioactive ion beams. This type of proton therapy has been hailed by some as the “magic bullet” for cancer treatment because the targeted beam of radiation causes minimal damage to nearby healthy tissue.
Sheba said the new treatment options would allow them to offer patients a more personalized and effective diagnosis and treatment plan.
Abramovich has previously partnered with Sheba Medical Center on a number of projects, including pediatric heart and cancer research. To date, he has donated $57 million to the Sheba Medical Center.
Abramovich, 51, is Russia’s 12th richest businessman, according to Forbes magazine, with a fortune of $11.6 billion. The Jewish oligarch has owned the Chelsea football club since 2003.
