University of North Texas 
Yelak Biru ('95, '97 M.S.) has spent most of his life defying the odds.
During the 1990s, while studying geology in his native Ethiopia, he escaped the civil war-embattled country to continue his education at UNT, where he earned a bachelor's and master's in computer science.
In 1995, amid the first semester studying for his master's, he developed a nagging cough. An emergency room visit and subsequent medical tests revealed a shocking diagnosis -- multiple myeloma, a rare, incurable blood cancer that develops within the plasma cells of bone marrow.
Less than 1% of people in the United States are at risk of developing multiple myeloma during their lifetime, typically between the ages of 40 and 70. Doctors gave Biru, who was just 25 when he was diagnosed, about three years to live.
December 2024 marks 29 years that Biru has survived with the disease. In March 2025, he will celebrate his 55th birthday -- a miraculous milestone since "I'm not supposed to be here," he says.
For the last three years, Biru has been president and CEO of the nonprofit International Myeloma Foundation (IMF), which serves more than a half-million members in 140 countries. Besides providing support, education, research and advocacy for multiple myeloma patients and their families, the organization also raises funds that go toward helping prevent the disease, develop new treatments and hopefully find a cure.
"When a myeloma patient is newly diagnosed, we really want to put a warm blanket around them and show them that there is hope," he says of the organization's work. "We want to advocate for them and make sure their voices are heard. We want to make sure that patients are well-educated."
A Welcome Distraction
Following his diagnosis, Biru was resolved in his determination to complete his education at UNT.
"I thought, 'I came to America to go to school and build a life for myself. I am not going to stop,'" he says. "Also, school was a distraction from the cancer. It allowed me to focus on something that was not me. It allowed me to have balance."
His treatment required chemotherapy infusions administered continuously for several days at a time. Rather than miss classes, Biru toted around campus a rolling bag containing a pump that delivered the potent medication directly into his bloodstream.
At UNT, he says he learned valuable life skills from professors including Paul Fisher, who chaired the Department of Computer Science and Engineering from 1990 through 1995; Stephen Tate, who founded UNT's Center for Information and Cyber Security; and Kathleen Swigger, who taught an artificial intelligence course -- the textbook for which Biru still has.
Within months of receiving his diagnosis and beginning treatment, he joined the North Texas Myeloma Support Group and eventually began leading its meetings, initiating his activism with the disease. Within the group, he met others who were enjoying successful lives and careers despite their diagnoses.
"It was living hopefully through our shared experiences and teaching each other and supporting each other throughout our multiple myeloma journeys," says Biru, who also began attending medical conferences where research about the disease was presented.
He landed his first professional job after attending a career fair at UNT and being recruited by Plano-based PepsiCo, where he worked for 20 years as a web administrator and managed its servers. He returned to campus multiple times to recruit and hire other UNT students to the company.
'Closer to a Cure'
In 2015, Biru joined IMF's board of directors. Two years later, he was recruited to work in IT for Walmart and relocated to northwest Arkansas, where he established a local multiple myeloma support group.
In 2021, he began as president and CEO of IMF, which is headquartered in Southern California where he now resides.
One of the highlights in his tenure came in August, when he was among a dozen patients, caregivers, physicians and others who traveled to Iceland for iStopMM, the world's first large-scale myeloma screening study. The goal is to screen that nation's population for the presence of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance -- called MGUS -- a non-cancerous condition considered a precursor to "smoldering" multiple myeloma, as well as for active myeloma cases.
"We are closer to a cure than we've ever been," he says.
Biru, who has experienced at least five periods of relapse and remission from multiple myeloma over the years, is currently in remission from the disease.
"I stay vigilant," he says about his health. "The challenges patients like me present are ensuring that they have the ability to reenter the workforce and live a full life. I attribute my living fully and bringing my knowledge to my work with my roots at UNT."
