Kathy Giusti, founder and CEO of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) and a 1980 graduate of the University of Vermont, has been named one of the ‘World’s 50 Greatest Leaders’ by Fortune Magazine.

Giusti takes her place on the list in the company of such luminaries as Pope Francis, the Dalai Lama, Warren Buffett, Angela Merkel, Bill Clinton, Aung San Suu Kya, Jeff Bezos, Christine Lagarde, Michael Bloomberg, Gabrielle Giffords, and other leaders the magazine’s editors identify as “men and women who will inspire you — some famous, others little known, all of them energizing their followers and making the world better… On six continents — in business, government, the military, philanthropy, religion — we identified men and women, young and old, who are leading the way people want to be led."

Giusti was also selected by Time magazine in 2011 as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Also on Fortune’s first-ever "Greatest Leaders" list is jazz great Wynton Marsalis, who delivered the commencement address to UVM’s 2013 graduating class. Both Giusti and Marsalis were awarded honorary doctorates at that ceremony last May.

The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) was established by Giusti with her twin sister, Karen Andrews, in 1998, soon after Kathy's diagnosis with multiple myeloma. The mission of the MMRF is to relentlessly pursue innovative means that accelerate the development of next-generation multiple myeloma treatments to extend the lives of patients and lead to a cure. As the world's number-one private funder of multiple myeloma research, the MMRF has raised $250 million since its inception and directs 90 percent of total budget to research and related programming.

See the complete Fortune Magazine list of "The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders."