, Jan. 29, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- According the the NIH, oncology research funding from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has remained flat for over a decade. To bridge the gap, the Myeloma Crowd Research Initiative (MCRI) has formed to select and fund promising research aimed at finding a cure for multiple myeloma, the second most common blood cancer. MCRI will use crowd funding via the Internet and social media to raise funds for this effort. The MCRI board features myeloma specialists, researchers, doctors, and knowledgeable patient advocates who, together, will review submissions that pose the potential for a cure and select individual projects to fund. Today, MCRI announced that it has added four new board members:

• Dr. Robert Z. Orlowski, MD, PhD, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Director of Myeloma, SWOG Chair
• Dr. Mike Thompson, MD, PhD, ASCO Social Media Work Group, co-founder #mmsm Twitter group
• Lizzy Smith, myeloma survivor, patient advocate, blogger and writer
• Cynthia Chmielewski, myeloma survivor, experienced patient advocate, co-founder #mmsm Twitter group

These new members join those currently on the MCRI board: Dr. Noopur Raje, MD, PhD, (Massachusetts General Cancer Center), Dr. Rafael Fonseca, MD (Mayo Clinic Scottsdale), Dr. Ola Landgren, MD, PhD (MSKCC), Dr. Guido Tricot, MD, PhD ( University of Iowa), and Dr. Irene Ghobrial, MD, PhD (Dana Farber Cancer Institute), and patient advocates Pat Killingsworth, Gary Petersen, Jack Aiello and Jenny Ahlstrom. "Many promising research proposals never make it to the labs due to lack of funding," said Chmielewski. "Patients and researchers bring different perspectives to treating disease and can now work in collaboration to select promising, innovative ideas." Contact: Jenny Ahlstrom Myeloma Crowd 801.949.1034 jenny@crowdcare.org