Longtime Newport Beach philanthropist Richard Pickup has made a $50 million gift to revolutionize brain health care at Hoag. In gratitude, Hoag is establishing the Richard H. Pickup Center for Brain Health, which will serve as a powerhouse for patient care, caregiver support, and clinical innovations for memory and cognitive disorders.

The center will further develop a unique model that follows patients at each leg of their health journey, constantly striving to enhance their quality of life. Demand for age-related health care is projected to outpace supply nationwide, and in Orange County, Alzheimer’s diagnoses are expected to more than double by 2040.

The Pickup family has made numerous gifts to Hoag throughout the years, including a $15 million gift establishing the Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute in 2017. Like many of Hoag’s generous supporters, Pickup’s funding of neurosciences is the result of his own family’s health history. Pickup’s brother lived with dementia before passing away. “I trust that the passionate experts at Hoag will advance this area of medicine and give people, beyond Orange County, a place they can turn to and trust,” he said.

Hoag President and Chief Executive Officer Robert Braithwaite said Pickup’s continued generosity will leave a history-making mark on the course of treatment, innovation, and understanding of brain disease. “Significantly, it does those things here, in Orange County, by thrusting Hoag further into the global arena to collaborate with other top institutions that share our mission,” Braithwaite said. “We are deeply grateful to the Pickup family for their support and trust.”

Read the press release here.