IMF Highlights: 35 Years of Impact in Myeloma Research, Education, Support, and Advocacy

Robin:
So now, it's my pleasure to really get this program started and I'm going to invite, Diane Moran, who is our Chief Executive Officer, Interim and Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning. And Diane is going to tell you more about the IMF and all that we can do and want to do for you. Thank you, Diane.

Diane Moran:
Thank you, Amy. Great job.

Robin:
Here you go.

Diane Moran:
Great. Good morning. I was asked on the way to breakfast this morning by Tom Tucker, "Well, how did you come into this job?" So it wasn't something I was going to say this morning. But in case anybody else has the question, I have been the Senior Vice President of strategic planning at the IMF for almost two decades. And my job as the Senior Vice President of strategic planning has been to build the relationships and the collaborations around the world in the US, in Europe, in Asia, and some other markets that allow the IMF vision and mission to be realized on behalf of patients so in research, education, support, and advocacy. And about six months ago, the board of directors asked if I would serve as interim CEO. And so, it has been my honor and pleasure to serve in that role with an amazing leadership team who, together, we have moved things forward over these past six months.

Now, I just want to share just a little bit more with you which is that because I was a nurse, when I came to the International Myeloma Foundation, one gap I could see in the community was the need for the nursing voice. The nurses are just so important. And you met two of them yesterday, you met Beth Vaiman, you met Michaela Hillingaus. And today, you'll meet Donna Catamiro. So very excited because these 20 extraordinary nurses do what other nurses do which is work tirelessly on behalf of you. And they're extraordinary and they volunteer and it seems like they never give up trying to make sure that your care is improved. I will share just one fun fact. It's that 10 kids know me as Nana and one of them actually brought me Olympic gold last year in dance. Okay.

All right. So now, I just want to share just a little information around the reach robin spoke a lot about the programs, many of them you have touched or they have touched you. First of all, our very proud figure in 35 years, and this is our 35th anniversary this October, we have raised over a quarter of a billion dollars for myeloma. Now, these are just some 2024 highlights and I know we're halfway through 2025. But when the stats came through, we saw 900,000 views on our videos. Now, Suzy Novis, our remarkable, remarkable founder, Suzy would say, "We are from Hollywood. We film everything." So clearly, it's a very strong educational strategy that lives with us today.

In terms of patient outreach, in the US alone, through our support groups, through our info line, through our patient family seminars and regional community workshops, in 2024, we reached 20,000. But countless more around the world. Social media, well, as Suzy would say from all the years that I worked with her, Suzy would say, "Whether a patient has Miso soup or Kellogg's cornflakes for breakfast, we are here to serve them." And our social media reach is really helping us get there in collaboration with all of you who help amplify it. And so, we reached over 350 million in 2024 raising awareness for myeloma.

I mentioned our nurse leadership board and they are extraordinary and their reach is amazing. So in 2024, these 20 nurses reached 3,600 other nurses who are serving more than 23,000 myeloma patients a month. It's amazing what they do and what they've done through their various programs. So now, just a few more stats. Our social media growth was, like, 169% as we got to that 350 million. Blood Cancer Awareness Month, coming up in September, you could see that we reached 26 million last year. Now, that's among all the blood cancers and it was only our third year of really putting focused effort into that program. Our Myeloma Action Month, that's where we all come together and we reached 53 million just this past March around the world. Again, fueling great growth year over year.

So if you put that together, the Myeloma Action Month and the Blood Cancer Awareness Month, we reached over 78 million media touches. So IMF and all of you are a force to be reckoned with in terms of sharing information and getting awareness around the world. ASH, the American Society of Hematology, one of the most distinguished meetings, there were actually 592 mentions of the IMF. All right. Just a little bit more. I'm almost done but I hope you find this fascinating. Because when I first came into myeloma two decades ago, if someone had told me that we could have this kind of reach, I would've thought, "That was Star Wars."

But our website, we reached approximately 1.5 million. Our emails, over 7 million recipients last year. Myelo, so you heard Robin speak about the myeloma knowledge platform and Myelo. So Myelo, we launched it in September of last year at the Support Group Leader Summit. When we launched it by the end of the year, we had had 17,100 questions. We are now, as of this morning's numbers, at 74,000 questions asked and answered. So the IMF is here for you.

In terms of the clinical trials, clinical trials is such an important treatment strategy and opportunity for patients. And if we look at, again, it launched in September of last year. And so by the end of the year, it had basically 1,861 users. And now, as of this morning, it's got 2,400 engaged and 278 patients who have been matched to clinical trials. All right. So now, I'm going to conclude with saying, when I tell people about the IMF, people say, "How big are you?" And when my 10 little ones, as they grew up, we used to play a game and I would call them over, "Juliet, Alex, Ryan, how big are you?" And they would go, "So big." So people think we're so big, not because we, by headcount are, but because of all of you, we are.
So let me just share a little bit about the touch points which are between the info line, support groups, our Global Myeloma Action Network, and our International Myeloma Working Group members. So I don't know if this will... No? It didn't layer in because they said I'd already taken too much of your time. These are the touch points all around the globe. We thank you because we do it together with you. So even though we may only be a staff of 44 taking care of patients all around the world, by the time we add in our amazing support groups, our global consortium from different countries, the leaders and groups around the world, our International Myeloma Working Group members, et cetera, we are so big. Thank you.