TORONTO -- Canada's largest mental health hospital has been given $100 million from an anonymous donor, with the goal of developing cures for psychiatric conditions that affect almost seven million Canadians.

The gift to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto will create the Discovery Fund to support next-generation scientists conducting research aimed at directly transforming care.

CAMH president and CEO Dr. Catherine Zahn says the money will be invested in fundamental research and clinical innovation to improve the mental health of individuals in Canada and around the world.

Zahn says the fund will enable CAMH to develop the next generation of leading early- and mid-career scientists.

The money will also allow CAMH to foster research focused on understanding disease mechanisms, improving diagnosis, and new ways to predict, prevent and recover from mental illness.

Darrell Louise Gregersen, head of the CAMH Foundation, says such philanthropy is helping to change the future of mental illness.

"We are eternally grateful to this donor for investing $100 million in our capacity to generate world-leading discovery, and to invest in some of the high-risk, high-reward research that usually doesn't get top funding priority," she says.

This unprecedented $100 million donation will fuel the #DiscoveryFund – enabling #CAMH to explore big ideas, support young scientists & leverage data. We asked CAMH researchers & scientists what difference they hope to make for #mentalhealth. Here's what they said — pic.twitter.com/FUT37Uh9co — CAMH Foundation (@endstigma) January 11, 2018