Kathy Giusti was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 1996. She was 37 years old, the mother of two young children, and at the height of her career as an executive in the pharmaceutical industry. At that time, there were few effective therapies for myeloma, no treatment innovations on the horizon, and minimal interest or research investment into what was then a largely ignored cancer. With a five-year survival rate of only 32 percent, Kathy was given only three years to live.

Kathy, who received her MBA from Harvard Business School and her Bachelor of Science magna cum laude from the University of Vermont, knew hope for patients was unlikely in this environment. She began to realize that her business and science background, coupled with the legal background of her identical twin sister, Karen Andrews, could be used to make a difference in myeloma. They took the first step together and in 1998 founded the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) with the mission to urgently and aggressively fund cutting-edge myeloma research. It was their shared belief that increased research funding was the first step toward bringing new treatments to patients and, ultimately, to finding a cure.

The profound sense of urgency that comes with living with an incurable cancer, coupled with her personal understanding of the struggles facing myeloma patients and their families, has served as the motivating force behind Kathy's work at the MMRF--from raising more than $102 million to support jumpstart myeloma research, to building an extraordinary research model, to advocating for cancer patients nationwide through her work on the National Cancer Advisory Board, an appointment she received from President Bush.

Kathy lives in Connecticut with her husband, Paul, and children, Nicole, who is 14, and David, who is 12.

Learn more about the MMRF's founding mission: Life Triumphant New Canaan – Darien Magazine, 2008 "Fighting to the End" CNNMoney.com, 2008 Buying A Cure: What business know-how can do for disease The New Yorker, 2008 An Emissary for Patients PharmaVoice, 2007 Patients With Rare Disease Work to Jump-Start Research Wall Street Journal, 2006 Two Sisters versus Cancer Glamour Magazine, 2006