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.
Actor and Artist Ice-T Raises Awareness of Myeloma in the Black Community
Renowned actor and artist Ice-T joins hands with the International Myeloma Foundation to raise awareness of myeloma in the black community this Black History Month. The IMF’s M-Power project is a national and local movement, fighting city by city through music, art, barbershops, food trucks, and churches. Let’s raise awareness and empower our community together. Change the narrative of myeloma. #BlackHistoryMonth
%
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 minority 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 York City in August 2024. Learn more about the Medical Student Scholars for Health Equity in Myeloma Mentoring Program here.
Could Your Patient Have Multiple Myeloma? Don’t Miss the Signs
Addressing Disparities in Multiple Myeloma and the Path to Health Equity
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with support from:
AbbVie, Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Genentech , GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Karyopharm Therapeutics, Kite, and Sanofi