We invite you to visit one of our M-POWERed cities

The M-Power project is partnering with cities across the country to turn the core vision of the IMF Diversity Initiative into a reality: improving the short- and long-term outcomes of African-American patients with multiple myeloma.

Multiple myeloma is the most common blood cancer in African Americans, who have a greater-than-average risk of developing the disease. But when barriers to early diagnosis and treatment are removed, African-American myeloma patients do just as well, or even better than, white individuals.

M-Power is empowering health-care professionals, community leaders, neighborhoods and families to break down those barriers by raising myeloma awareness. Get M-POWERed to change the course of myeloma by clicking on a city below.

of all cases of myeloma are in African Americans

more common in African Americans

of all newly diagnosed myeloma patients will be African American

Multiple Myeloma

Did you know that myeloma is the most common blood cancer in people of African descent? But doctors do not typically check people for myeloma during a regular visit because currently there are no national screening recommendations for myeloma.

That’s why it’s important to learn the early symptoms of myeloma and let your doctor know that you—or a friend or family member—are at added risk for the disease.

Because even though myeloma affects African Americans at greater rates, with early diagnosis and treatment, African Americans can have better overall survival in living with the disease.

Medical Student Scholars for Health Equity in Myeloma Mentoring Program

The International Myeloma Foundation (IMF) has partnered with the W. Montague Cobb/NMA Health Institute’s Cobb Scholars Program to develop a mentoring program for African American medical school students. Twelve students, several of whom are from Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCU), have been paired with 12 myeloma experts who are dedicated to health equity – together they are conducting 12 projects in health disparities in myeloma. These will be presented as posters at the Annual Meeting of the National Medical Association in New Orleans in July 2023. Learn more about the Medical Student Scholars for Health Equity in Myeloma Mentoring Program here.

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Could Your Patient Have Multiple Myeloma? Don’t Miss the Signs

In this free CME series for Health Care Professionals, IMF Chief Medical Officer Joseph Mikhael (Professor, Applied Cancer Research and Drug Discovery, Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) at City of Hope Cancer Center – Phoenix) provides education for primary care providers and hematologists/oncologists on the signs and symptoms of multiple myeloma (MM) so they can remove barriers to earlier diagnosis and improve treatment in the African – American community.

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Addressing Disparities in Multiple Myeloma and the Path to Health Equity

IMF Chief Medical Officer Joseph Mikhael (Professor, Applied Cancer Research and Drug Discovery, Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) at City of Hope Cancer Center – Phoenix) discusses disparities in myeloma treatment and diagnosis, representation in clinical trials, the importance of achieving health equity, and what actions are being taken to do so.

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Learn About IMF

Founded in 1990, the International Myeloma Foundation (IMF) is the first and largest global organization focusing specifically on multiple myeloma.