ADAO 13th Annual International Asbestos Awareness and Prevention Conference
“Where Knowledge and Action Unite”
April 7 – 9, 2017
Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel
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Posted on February 22, 2017
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) is proud to present a weekly series “Meet the Speakers, Honorees, and Leadership,” which will highlight the esteemed participants of our highly -anticipated 13th Annual International Asbestos Awareness & Prevention Conference! The ADAO conference, which will take place on April 7-9, 2017 in Washington, D.C., combines nearly 40 expert opinions, victims’ stories, and new technological advancements from more than 10 countries across the globe into one united voice raising awareness about asbestos. ADAO is the only U.S. nonprofit that organizes annual conferences dedicated solely to preventing asbestos exposure and eliminating asbestos-caused diseases. Register Here Today!
Session I Speakers: Annamarie Kearns; Arthur L. Frank, MD, PhD; Richard Lemen, PhD, MSPH; Linda Reinstein
Session I Moderator: L. Christine Oliver, MD, MPH, MS, FACPM
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Annamarie Kearns, Mesothelioma Warrior, is from West Jordan, Utah. She was diagnosed in 2014 after she found herself unable to walk 5 steps without having to stop and catch her breath. Since her diagnosis with mesothelioma, Annamarie has faced several rounds of chemotherapy and aggressive surgeries. Annamarie is an active volunteer with ADAO, and shares her story in hopes of spreading awareness about the dangers of asbestos exposure and to advocate for an asbestos-free future.
L. Christine Oliver, MD, MPH, MS, FACPM is President of Occupational Health Initiatives, Inc. She is an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an Associate Physician in the Department of Medicine (Pulmonary and Critical Care Division) at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Board certified in internal medicine and in preventive (occupational) medicine, Dr. Oliver’s primary specialty is Occupational and Environmental Medicine, with an emphasis on occupational lung disease. She is the Co-Director of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital. There she evaluates and cares for patients with a variety of occupational and environmental diseases, including asbestos-related diseases, occupational asthma, interstitial lung disease associated with exposure to beryllium and silica, and building-associated illness. Dr. Oliver is a Fellow of the Collegium Ramazzini and has done research and published in the area of occupational lung disease, with a focus on asbestos-related disease. She has lectured frequently on this topic, including more recently the determination of risk for asbestos-related lung cancer. Dr. Oliver is responsible for medical surveillance of a group of public school custodians employed by the City of Boston and exposed to asbestos during the course of that work. She conducted research on health and safety hazards for construction workers on Boston’s Big Dig. She consults on medical-legal issues and provides expert witness testimony. Dr. Oliver has testified before Congress on issues related to asbestos and other workplace exposures. She was Chief Medical Consultant to the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents responsible for implementation of medical aspects of the 1991 workers’ compensation reform law in the state.
Arthur L. Frank, PhD, MD is a physician board certified in both internal medicine and occupational medicine and currently serves as Professor of Public Health and Chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Drexel University School of Public Health in Philadelphia. He is also a Professor of Medicine (Pulmonary) at the Drexel College of Medicine. He also holds a position at Drexel as Professor of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering. A life-long academic, Dr. Frank has previously taught at Mount Sinai Medical School, the University of Kentucky, and in the University of Texas System. He has served many governmental agencies in the US and has carried out research and has been a governmental advisor internationally. Trained in both occupational medicine and internal medicine, Dr. Frank has been interested in the health hazards of asbestos for more than 35 years. He has published a great deal of work on the hazards of asbestos, and clinically cared for asbestos affected patients. He has lectured internationally about the problems of asbestos, and worked in many settings looking at the diseases caused by this material. His research interests have been in the areas of occupational cancers and occupational lung diseases, as well as agricultural safety and health. For 37 years he held a commission in the U.S. Public Health Service (active and inactive) and served on active duty both at the NIH and at NIOSH. Arthur is the ADAO Science Advisory Board Co-Chair.
Richard Lemen, PhD, MSPH is a former Assistant Surgeon General of the United States and also served as the Acting Director and the Deputy Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) before his retirement. He has been a practicing epidemiologist for more than 40 years and has taught graduate-level courses on environmental and occupational health issues, including asbestos, at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. He has also testified on behalf of asbestos victims; Dr. Lemen is a world-renowned author, speaker, and lecturer on this topic.
Linda Reinstein is the President/CEO and Co-Founder of Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO). Reinstein became an activist when her husband, Alan, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2003. She co-founded the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization with Doug Larkin in 2004, and now serves as President and CEO. Reinstein has been a strong political voice for justice in every major asbestos-related issue. Reinstein, a highly sought-after international speaker, has frequently served as a Congressional witness and presented at the Department of Labor (OSHA), British House of Commons, United Nations Congress, American Public Health Association, and to other audiences around the world. Recognized as an expert with more than 35 years of nonprofit experience in building and sustaining grassroots organizations, Reinstein specializes in developing, implementing, and leveraging integrated social media campaigns. Focused on national and international occupational and environmental disease prevention, Reinstein’s proficiency in the powerful advocacy space of online media has greatly increased the effectiveness of ADAO’s core mission of education, advocacy, and community support actions. She has won many prestigious awards including the Global Impact Award (2013), from the Independent Asbestos Training Providers; Bruce Vento Hope Builder Award (2011), from the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation; the highest level of the Presidential Volunteer Service Award for her 4,000 hours of volunteerism during her lifetime (2010); and the Heart and Soul Award in from the Manhattan Beach Women in Business Association (2005).
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Check back next week for the fourth installment of “Speakers, Honorees, and Leadership,” featuring our 2017 conference Session II Speakers
In Unity,
Linda
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, does not make legal referrals.