Remarkable Alumni from Harvard.

Harvard business school! The name itself speaks for it. So who all come to our minds when we think of B-schools, especially this one? We can think of Margaret Cushing “Meg” Whitman, CEO of HP; P.Chidambaram, India’s Union Minister of Finance; or our current nominee for U.S Presidential election Mitt Romney and the list goes on. But one person who blew my mind is Kathy Giusti. Yes, she is also a management graduate from the prestigious Harvard.

So what makes her exceptional? Kathy like any other Harvard graduates got into the top companies after her MBA degree. She started with Merck & Co., then moved to Gillette and further into G.D.Searle & Co. In 1998, when she was just 37 years old was diagnosed with lethal disease multiple myeloma (MM), a rare form of blood cancer. In her interview she said that there were no drugs to cure MM at that point of time and she was told by her doctors that she has may be another three years to live. She was shaken at the first glance. But later she started analyzing the statistics of MM. After scanning the data she got hold of crux of the problem. She found that each one is doing an independent research under different labs causing almost 10 years to come up with a drug. She now had nailed down the solution. And there was the birth of Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF). She along with her twin sister started this foundation by bringing together the independent scientists and clinical testing under one roof. This gave an enormous result and they released four new drugs in just four years to treat the disease. MMRF is the world’s largest funder of Myeloma research; it has raised almost $165 million so far.

After this huge success she went ahead with Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium (MMRC) in the year 2004. This has ties with industries to speed up the research process. MMRC have made breakthroughs in tissue banking, data management, genomics, and clinical trials.

Again in her interview she gave credit to her B-school learning. The foundation was far different from any other traditional medical charity. She had appointed full time scientists to track MM research round the clock; she had set strict deadlines for them to receive foundation grants. Her research foundation has made her and many others live long; and now she is a member of the Board of Directors for IMS Health.

Many a times we have seen management skills being used to develop companies. But this non-profit organization has been developed to save human lives.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathy_Giusti