Yelak Biru

Diagnosed with multiple myeloma at the young age of 25, Yelak has lived with the disease for more than a quarter of a century. His journey as a patient brought him to the International Myeloma Foundation, first leading a support group and then as a member of the organisation’s Board of Directors and now as President and CEO. He sees his role as a way “to pay it forward and carry the baton as far and as fast as possible so those who come after me, those who come after us, can go even further.” His vision is “to find a cure for myeloma so no one dies from the disease by the year 2035.”  
   
Yelak’s set of life experiences - living with myeloma; a past member of NCI’s Myeloma Committee, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group, National Cancer Research Advocate; a co-author of published research; a prolific speaker on patient care and myeloma research issues; and his collaborations with both for-profit and non-profit organizations - has afforded him a deeper understanding of the challenges, disappointments, and triumphs that cancer patients and their care team face day to day.   

Born in Ethiopia, Yelak completed his master’s degrees in computer science from the University of North Texas. He and his wife, along with their two dachshunds, live in Los Angeles, California.