The University of Cincinnati has announced a $30 million pledge from Craig and Frances Lindner and his parents Carl H. and Edyth Lindner, Jr. to establish the Craig and Frances Lindner Center of HOPE (Helping Other People Excel) in the university's department of psychiatry.

The two families will make an initial gift of $10 million to establish the Lindner Foundation, which will support the mission of the center. The facility, which will be jointly operated by the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati and the foundation and will be staffed by physicians from the UC College of Medicine, will offer treatment services for adolescents and adults with psychiatric illnesses, support for patients' families, and integrated programs that combine patient care, education, and research. The two families will provide an additional $20 million toward operating costs and construction of the facility, which is expected to cost approximately $22 million, over the next four years.

Paul Keck, M.D., a UC professor of psychiatry, will serve as medical director of the center and will hold an endowed chair funded by the Lindner Foundation, pending approval by the UC board of trustees. More Americans suffer from mental illness than any other disease, Keck told the Cincinnati Post, yet it ranks tenth among diseases in research funding.

"Mental illnesses impact the lives of many people," added Craig Lindner. "It's a privilege for our family to be involved with this state-of-the-science center, which will deliver comprehensive care and will support and attract the very best clinicians and researchers in this field."