An anonymous donor has made a staggering $100-million gift to Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.The donation was given to support research into mental illnesses, which affect some 6.7 million Canadians and are the leading cause of disability on earth.“I believe CAMH is well-positioned to make a transformational impact in the field of mental health research,” the donor, who insisted on anonymity, said in a media release.“I have seen the devastating impact of mental illness on individuals and their families; I want to provide support to the next generation of researchers and scientists to pursue the research that will directly transform care,” The donation, which was announced at 11 a.m. Thursday, will support the recruitment and retention of top scientists and encourage them to take chances with their research.“In order to enable quantum leaps forward, this gift will also support high-risk, high-reward research,” the donor said.The donation is by far the largest ever given to a mental health centre in Canada and one of only a handful of that magnitude bestowed on any health organization in the country. Last September, Toronto philanthropist Peter Munk donated $100 million to the heart centre that bears his name at the Toronto General Hospital.In 2014, businessman Geoffrey Cumming donated $100 million to the University of Calgary’s school of medicine.Dr. Catherine Zahn, CAMH president and CEO, said the donation and the Discovery Fund it will anchor will help scientists improve the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mental illnesses. “In broad strokes what we will be using the gift for is to recruit and retain excellent scientists (and) to create a fund that helps our own young scientists to grow and evolve,” she said.“We will be looking for ways to provide funding for really, really leading-edge ideas that are going to be focused on understanding disease mechanisms, effective diag ...
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