International Myeloma Foundation

Founded in 1990, the International Myeloma Foundation (IMF) is the first and largest myeloma organization focusing specifically on multiple myeloma. The IMF's reach extends to more than 525,000 members in 140 countries worldwide. The IMF is dedicated to improving the quality of life of myeloma patients while working toward prevention and a cure, through our four founding principles: Research, Education, Support and Advocacy. As the leader in innovative and globally collaborative myeloma research, the IMF brings together the world's leading experts in the most successful and unique way through the International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG) and the Black Swan Research Initiative, which is charting the course to a cure, mentoring the next generation of innovative investigators, and improving lives through better care.

The IMF's mission is improving the quality of lives of myeloma patients while working toward a cure.

Goal One: Strengthen the IMF’s digital capabilities and elevate its data analytics to deliver a personalized patient experience while collecting and capturing data to accelerate research advancements.

Goal Two: Improve health equity for African American patients with myeloma through awareness; education; and empowerment of healthcare professionals, community leaders, faith-based organizations, and families

Goal Three: Electronically house an immune therapy registry at the University of California in San Francisco, which collects data about benefits or toxicities of therapies for patients in a community setting

The IMF hired its first non-founder CEO—Yelak Biru—an advocate, patient, and business executive who has worked for more than 20 years at two Fortune 500 companies. Under Biru's leadership, the IMF has implemented a data-driven strategy that requires continuous assessment of its programs, leadership and resources. This strategy included team assessments using the Predictive Index model to understand differences in workstyles, build cohesive teams, and lead with purpose. This model has allowed leaders to improve team dynamics, leadership styles, and team productivity. The team also worked together in drafting a new strategic plan and hired an outside firm to conduct listening sessions that included all team member's input. In addition, the IMF was selected to receive the 2022 Amazon Web Services (AWS) IMAGINE Grant and currently providing training for the use of a new data lake to synchronize data from their CRM and combine it with patient and donor data to improve decision-making.

While the world adjusts to living with COVID-19, the challenge has been even greater for myeloma patients who are immunocompromised, as well as for their loved ones who hope to keep patients as healthy as possible. By the end of 2020 (the first year of the pandemic), the IMF swiftly adapted to transferring our in-person education programs, our in-person fundraisers, and our attendance at global conferences to online formats. By 2022, we were well-equipped to not only provide services virtually to the myeloma community, but also broaden their scope and reach. For example, in 2022, the IMF conducted 30+ educational webinars in the U.S. and globally, reaching more people than ever before. The views of these webinars collectively were 50,000+. We also created fundraisers where individuals could have the choice to participate in-person or virtually. This hybrid format ensured that people remained engaged and connected in ways that felt safe to them. We realized how important it is to keep the community engaged while physically distanced. To ensure our constituents were aware of our programming, in 2022, we sent 235 emails to 5.6 million people worldwide. Finally, we harnessed the power of social media with our two tentpole awareness campaigns: In March, Myeloma Action Month reached more than 30 million people in 46 countries worldwide. In September, the IMF’s Blood Cancer Awareness Month campaign reached 17.8 million people in 37 countries. The lesson the IMF learned is that by keeping in contact with the myeloma community, and meeting individuals where they are, we can ultimately expand our reach despite the limitations of something as grave as a global pandemic.