The Future of Multiple Myeloma Research and Treatment Options

The International Myeloma Foundation (IMF) has named Heather Cooper Ortner as the new president and CEO of the organization.¹

Ortner was previously the president and CEO of Alzheimer’s Los Angeles and the former CEO of the Dr Susan Love Research Foundation. She previously served as the executive vice president of development at IMF.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Ortner discussed the state of multiple myeloma (MM) research, the unmet needs of patients, and what the future holds.

Targeted Oncology: How are you feeling about the state of MM research as a whole?

Heather Cooper Ortner: As a whole, I'm very excited and optimistic about the state of research. When I was last at the IMF, which was well over a decade ago, there were very limited treatment options for people with myeloma, and now there are many, many options, and there are different options for people at different stages of the disease. It's actually very gratifying and very exciting to come back into this community and see just how many options there are and how much progress has been made. That doesn't mean that there isn't still work to be done, but I'm very optimistic and excited about the state of the research.

What are some of the unmet needs for patients in this space?

People living with myeloma have a lot of needs, and I think we can start with the very beginning, which is early detection. One of the challenges, I think, for a lot of people— including for the communities that are most at risk for developing MM, like the African American and Black community—is a lack of understanding about what the disease actually is, what the warning signs are, what early symptoms might be, and how to advocate for themselves and get their concerns or their symptoms recognized and get themselves tested and diagnosed. But upfront, it's just a matter of access, helping people get access to care, access to diagnosis, and access to treatment.

I think one of the other things is, continuing in this vein of access, is that while we have all these really wonderful treatments, not all of them are available to community oncologists or community [hematology oncologists], or there just isn't the knowledge in the community to be prescribing some of these newer options for people with MM. I think another challenge is, again, access, getting people with myeloma the opportunity to access these new and really wonderful treatments that can be completely life-changing for people. And I think then, the ongoing needs of the constant support, the constant education, and keeping up with things. And then, I add just a little plug for support of caregivers and care partners as well. I think that's an ongoing need for families and for people who are caring for a person living with myeloma.

In what ways can research be innovated?

Innovation looks like so many different things. We're obviously seeing so much innovation in general around the science. I would say that innovation could be extending beyond just scientific discovery and can include how research efforts include patients and their families, and how patients and families are kept connected and coordinated and supported throughout the research efforts. So [at] the IMF, I think a lot of what we do is highly innovative in that we continue to convene the stakeholders and continue to keep patient needs front and center within those stakeholders’ minds, so we're just continuing to ensure that real-world data, that the patient and the impact on patient quality of life are kept front and center as these really brilliant scientists continue to advance the research.

We really hope to create more opportunities for not just people to learn about myeloma, but for physicians and treating health care providers [and] supportive health care providers, the whole wraparound services of how we support people living with myeloma. We want them to know about everything that's happening in the myeloma space.

REFERENCE

1.The International Myeloma Foundation welcomes Heather Cooper Ortner as new president & CEO. International Myeloma Foundation. News release. Published October 2, 2025. Accessed December 23, 2025. https://tinyurl.com/5n98trm6