Brian D. Novis; Co-Founder of Group for Cancer Patients

Brian D. Novis, 37, who was inspired to help found the International Myeloma Foundation after he was found to have that form of bone marrow cancer four years ago. Novis, an executive recruiter, was unaware that he had the deadly cancer form until he went in for a blood test for insurance purposes. Told that he had at most five years to live, he consulted with a British hematologist, Dr. Brian Durie, who helped him develop a treatment program. Eventually, the two men formed the IMF to disseminate information on myeloma and courses of treatment. Its first annual fund-raising banquet was held in June in Phoenix and honored Dr. E. Donnall Thomas, who won the 1990 Nobel Prize in medicine for research on bone marrow transplants. In Los Angeles on July 8.