IMWG Awards Dinner Celebrates Two Luminaries in Myeloma Research
Hermann Einsele and Noopur Raje are honored by the International Myeloma Working Group
By Heather Cooper Ortner, IMF President & CEO
The 17th Annual Summit of the IMF International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG) was held in Stockholm, Sweden. On June 9, the IMWG Awards Dinner brought together myeloma leaders from around the world to honor two extraordinary individuals for their decades of scientific and clinical achievement, and their unwavering commitment to improve the lives of patients with myeloma.
Robert A. Kyle Lifetime Achievement Award
Hermann Einsele, MD, FRCP
The Robert A. Kyle Lifetime Achievement Award – the IMWG’s most distinguished honor – was presented to Professor Hermann Einsele by Philippe Moreau, MD, in recognition of a career that has fundamentally shaped the landscape of myeloma treatment and hematologic immunotherapy.
Professor Einsele is Full Professor of Internal Medicine who has served as Director of the Department of Internal Medicine II at the University Hospital Würzburg, Germany, since 2004. His foundational training spanned the Universities of Tübingen, Manchester, and London. He has held visiting professorships at the City of Hope Hospital and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Board certified in both Internal Medicine and Haematology/Oncology, he was appointed Associate Professor in 1999 and has served in senior academic leadership roles at Würzburg for more than two decades, including as Vice President of the University from 2015 to 2021.
Professor Einsele’s contributions to science have earned recognition at the highest levels. Among his many honors: the van Bekkum Award (2003), the highest European annual award in stem cell transplantation research; election as Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists (2011); the Erasmus Hematology Award (2022); the Emil von Behring Prize (2023); and the Ken Anderson Basic and Translational Research Award from the International Myeloma Society (2024). He was admitted to the Academia Europaea in 2023 and became a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in 2024.
Since 2018, Professor Einsele has chaired the European Hematology Association’s scientific working group on immunotherapy for hematological malignancies. His research expertise centers on CAR T-cell therapy, bispecific antibodies, adoptive immunotherapy, and stem cell transplantation – areas that are now at the forefront of myeloma care worldwide.
Brian G. M. Durie Outstanding Achievement Award
Noopur Raje, MD
The Brian G.M. Durie Outstanding Achievement Award was presented to Noopur Raje, MD, in recognition of her remarkable contributions to myeloma research, patient care, and global scientific leadership. The award was presented by Nikhil Munshi, MD.
Dr. Raje serves as Director of the Center for Multiple Myeloma at the Massachusetts General Cancer Center – a program she founded – and holds the Rita M. Kelley Chair in Oncology. She is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Raje completed her residency at Mass General and her fellowship at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute after earning her medical degree from BJ Medical College, University of Pune, India.
Her translational research program has advanced the understanding of the bone marrow microenvironment, myeloma bone disease, and resistance mechanisms to novel immunotherapies. She leads a team of dedicated clinical investigators bringing cutting-edge treatments to patients and is a driving force behind several major clinical trial steering committees.
Dr. Raje serves as Secretary and Executive Board Member of the International Myeloma Society (IMS). She chairs educational commit tees for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the American Society of Hematology (ASH). Dr. Raje is widely published in top-tier scientific journals.
Dr. Raje’s career has been marked by prestigious recognition, including the Claflin Distinguished Scholar Award (2010), the inaugural Rita M. Kelley Chair in Oncology (2013), the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Clinical Scholar Award (2017), the Tom Spitzer Clinical Excellence Award (2020), and the Ken Anderson Translational Science Award (2022).
Celebrating excellence
The IMWG Awards Dinner in Stockholm served as a powerful reminder of the human dedication behind scientific progress. In honoring Professor Einsele and Dr. Raje, the myeloma community recognized not only their individual achievements, but the collective spirit of innovation and compassion that continues to move the field – and patients – forward.
(This article was originally published in the 2026 Summer Edition of the IMF's quarterly publication, Myeloma Today. Read the full publication here.)