Carilion exceeds $100M fundraising goal for cancer center

When leaders at Carilion Clinic began planning a campaign to raise funds for a cancer center in Roanoke, they didn’t have a development office, so they hired a consultant.

“The consultant did what consultants do … and they came back to us and they said, essentially, ‘Good luck with that. The most we think you could possibly do is $50 million,'” Nancy Howell Agee, the Roanoke-based health system’s CEO emeritus, recalled during a press event Tuesday. “So, we fired the consultant.”

Carilion President and CEO Steve Arner announced Tuesday that the health system has raised more than $105.6 million in its fundraising campaign for the Carilion Taubman Cancer Center, exceeding the campaign’s $100 million goal. The seven-story, 260,000-square-foot cancer center, which will be located on Carilion’s Riverside campus, is currently under construction and expected to open in 2028.

“Literally thousands of individual donors have made contributions to this campaign and powered it forward,” Arner said.

On Tuesday, Carilion leaders also announced the launch of a new $50 million initiative to bring proton therapy to the center.

“Proton therapy is the most precise form of radiation available today,” said Dr. Tony Seupaul, Carilion’s chief physician executive. “[Allowing] our clinicians to destroy cancer cells with pinpoint accuracy for those with tumors near delicate structures like the brain, spine or heart, and especially for children who need highly specialized treatment, we can treat cancer aggressively while protecting healthy tissue.”

Currently, there are fewer than 50 proton therapy centers in the United States. In Virginia, the treatment is offered at the Hampton University Proton Cancer Institute and the Inova Mather Proton Therapy Center in Fairfax. Carilion would be the only location in Central and Western Virginia to offer proton therapy.

Having the advanced radiation treatment in Roanoke will present Carilion, and its partners at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, with opportunities to participate in proton beam-based research. “Together, we’ll take part in clinical trials and new clinical education programs that advance the boundaries of what’s possible in cancer care,” Seupaul said.

Former Advance Auto Parts CEO Nicholas Taubman, a past U.S. ambassador to Romania, and his wife, Jenny, attended Tuesday’s events. In July 2024, the couple gave $25 million to the center, which is named in their honor. On Tuesday, Agee announced the Taubmans had given an additional $17.5 million lead gift for the $50 million campaign.

Carilion also received a $2.5 million donation from an anonymous donor. The campaign has raised roughly $20 million so far.

“Jenny and I are profoundly grateful to our friends, neighbors and the entire community for helping make the Carilion Taubman Cancer Center a reality,” Nicholas Taubman said in a statement. “Your generosity has brought this dream to life, and together we can take the next step by bringing this transformative technology to our region.”

The campaign to raise $100 million for a cancer center began in 2019. Agee and her husband, Steve, kicked off fundraising for the effort with a $1 million gift. Carilion employees donated $7.7 million. The health system had raised $96 million before inviting the community to give during Roanoke’s annual Freedom Festival in July.

Construction began on the cancer center in October 2024. HDR, an employee-owned design firm with headquarters in Nebraska, worked with Carilion oncology teams to design the building.

Serving nearly 1 million patients in Virginia through hospitals, outpatient specialty centers and primary care practices, Carilion Clinic has more than 13,000 employees.