Kathy Giusti — Founder, Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation; Harvard Business School Lecturer

**Kathy Giusti** is the founder of the **Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF)**, one of the most effective disease-focused nonprofits in history. After being diagnosed with multiple myeloma (a blood cancer) in 1996 — when median survival was 3 years — she applied her McKinsey and pharma executive training to fundamentally change how cancer research gets funded and drugs get developed. Under her leadership, MMRF has raised over $500 million and helped bring 15+ new FDA-approved treatments to market, extending median survival from 3 years to 8-10 years.