Posted on February 7, 2018
ADAO 14th Annual International Asbestos Awareness and Prevention Conference
“Where Knowledge and Action Unite”
April 13 – 15, 2018
Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel
Updated on February 1, 2018
2018 Conference Info | Know Before You Go | Registration | Marriott Reservations | Events | Agenda | RSVP for Events | Newseum Tour and Causal Dinner | “Meet the Artists” Reception and Awards Dinner | Brunch | Honorees | Speakers | Speaker Information | Tributes | Sponsors | Media | 2017 Livestream Videos
2005 – 2017 Conference Infographic | 2005 – 2017 Conferences Honorees & Keynote Speakers
This week, we are honored to introduce our 2018 Keynote Speakers: Patrick J. Morrison, Chris Graham and Eric Jonckheere; and Artists: Jordan Zevon and Earl Dotter.
2018 ADAO Conference Keynote Speakers & Artists:
Saturday: Patrick J. Morrison, Assistant to the General President for Occupational Health, Safety and Medicine at the International Association of Fire Fighters; Chris Graham, Editor & Publisher of New Matilda; Jordan Zevon, singer/songwriter and film composer; and Earl Dotter, Photographer.
Sunday: Eric Jonckheere, Belgian Airline Pilot.
***
Patrick (Pat) Morrison is the Assistant to the General President for Occupational Health, Safety and Medicine at the IAFF (International Association of Fire Fighters), a union representing more than 310,000 professional fire fighters and paramedics in the United States and Canada. Mr. Morrison’s expertise is in the design and implementation of health, safety and wellness programs to improve fire fighters’ overall physical and mental health, address their medical needs and increase protections from the hazardous elements of firefighting. Prior to joining the IAFF, Mr. Morrison was a career fire fighter for 21 years with the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department in Fairfax, Virginia.
***
Chris Graham is the publisher and editor of New Matilda. He is the former founding managing editor of the National Indigenous Times and Tracker magazine. Chris has won a Walkley Award, a Walkley High Commendation and two Human Rights Awards for his reporting. He lives in Brisbane and splits his time between Stradbroke Island, where New Matilda is based, and the mainland.
***
Jordan Zevon, ADAO’s tremendous National Spokesperson, is a singer/songwriter and film composer. Jordan was the executive producer for his father, Warren Zevon’s, final album The Wind. He also co-produced Enjoy Every Sandwich: The Songs of Warren Zevon, which features an all-star cast of singers and musicians. Jordan’s own work includes his self-titled EP and the New West release, “Insides Out”. He’s performed multiple times on The Late Show with David Letterman, The Grammys and his music has been featured on numerous television shows. Jordan’s immeasurable commitment to asbestos victims and concerned citizens has provided a united voice that will continue to help ensure that their rights are fairly represented and protected, while raising public awareness about the dangers of asbestos exposure and often deadly asbestos related diseases.
***
Earl Dotter, began photographing coal miners in 1969, then the most dangerous job in America. After which, he focused on other hazardous occupations in the USA. After 30 years of documentation he created the exhibit and book, THE QUIET SICKNESS: A Photographic Chronicle of Hazardous Work in America. He has been a Visiting Scholar at the Harvard School of Public Health since his appointment in 1999. In the year 2000, Dotter received an Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellowship to document commercial fishing. It had become our nation’s most dangerous trade. After 9/11, he photographed the rescue recovery effort at Ground Zero. For that exhibit work he received APHA’s Alice Hamilton Award. Currently, Dotter is following hazardous jobs new immigrants perform in the USA.
***
Eric Jonckheere is a Belgian airline pilot. Asbestos is part of his everyday environement since 1937. His grand-father Paul was a key player in keeping the Eternit factories open during WW2. Pierre, his father, worked at Eternit as an engeneer. He grew up in Kapelle, north of Brussels, was paradise until the passing of Pierre due to mesothelioma in 1987.He was 59. Then his mother, Francoise, and brothers, Pierre-Paul and Stephane, suffered from the same cancer, respectively in 2000, 2003 and 2010. He became an anti-asbestos activist when he realized many families couldn’t speak up. The entire village suffers from extensive environmental exposure but the local politicians and union leaders are at the mercy of the plants owners. Since their victory in the Brussels court, they have moved the case-law and the knowledge of the dangers of asbestos to the general public. As president of ABEVA, it’s important to share experiences across borders.
***
Check back next week for the second installment of “Meet the 2018 Honorees,” featuring ten amazing people and organizations.
In unity,
Linda