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 March 15, 2017
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) is proud to present a new weekly series “Meet the Speakers, Honorees, and Leadership,” which will highlight 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 IV Speakers: Domani Tripam; Hassan Yussuff; Fernanda Giannasi; Carmen Lima; Barry Robson
Session IV Moderator: Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH
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Domani M. Tripam became involved with ADAO after her “SuperDad” was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2011. She is passionate about educating others about their risks of asbestos exposure and ways to protect themselves and their families as well as supporting ADAO in their efforts to create change for all who have been affected by asbestos. Her family formed the Mesothelioma Heroes Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness of asbestos and funds for mesothelioma research, of which she previously served as President and a Board Member. After losing her SuperDad to mesothelioma in July of 2016, Domani has renewed her commitment to raising awareness and supporting ADAO’s efforts to finally ban asbestos once and for all. Domani is an administrative and marketing services professional with over 30 years of senior-level administrative experience in various industries including analytics, consulting, market research, event fundraising, legal, financial and professional services, executive recruiting, consumer products and corporate real estate.
Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH is a lecturer in the Department of Health and Human Performance at Texas State University and a professorial lecturer in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. Her research includes assessment of worker health and safety laws and policies, and their effectiveness in protecting workers from illnesses, disability and death. She has published articles on strategies used by economic interests, including the asbestos industry, to manipulate scientific evidence to create uncertainty about health risks in order to delay protective regulatory action and compensation. Dr. Monforton served on the special panels appointed by the West Virginia Governor to investigate the January 2006 Sago coal mine disaster that took the lives of 12 workers, and the April 2010 disaster at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine that killed 29 workers. Dr. Monforton is an active member of the American Public Health Association, and serves in a leadership position with the organization’s Occupational Health and Safety Section.
Fernanda Giannasi is a Civil and Safety Engineer and ex-Labor Inspector for the Ministry of Labor and Employment for 30 years, currently retired and acting as an expert advisor for the Labour Prosecutors (Federal Labour Public Ministry) as well the asbestos victims’ solicitors. She is the coordinator of the Virtual Citizen Ban Asbestos Network for Latin America, founder of the Brazilian Association of People Exposed to Asbestos (ABREA) and Fellow of the Collegium Ramazzini. She serves as an expert witness in judicial cases related to asbestos, nuclear and other toxic chemicals as Mercury, POP´s (Persistent Organic Pollutants). She also led thousands of workers who have filed lawsuits against the asbestos industry. In charge of a Federal Labor Inspector, she staunchly defended the public interest on workers’ safety and health and was pressured by the asbestos lobby in Brazil and Canada, and endured all kind of pressures, harassments including death threats, offensive campaigns and criminal charges by her detractors. Despite of these, she has been awarded in Brazil and internationally in Canada (Ray Sentes Award), USA by the American Public Health Association (APHA) and the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE), and Japan by the Tajiri Muneaki Memorial Fund. She was recently awarded by both the State of São Paulo Appeal Court and the High/Supreme Labour Court with the Judiciary Order of Merit. She is internationally well known and highly respected for her proficient and perseverant campaigning to save lives from asbestos. Fernanda Giannasi is the personification of the fight against asbestos in Brazil. Not for nothing is she called ‘The Brockovich of Brazil’.
Carmen Lima is a coordinator of the Waste Information Centre of Quercus – Portugal, who dedicate is work in education, advocacy, political of asbestos and waste management. She holds a degree in Environmental Engineering, a Postgraduate course in Environmental Management and Sustainable Construction, a Masters in Sustainable Planning and Construction. He is currently undertaking a PhD in Environmental Engineering, working on “Priorities in Asbestos Risk Management” in materials and equipment for construction in Lisbon. She is a member of the Portuguese Technical Commission for Asbestos and participated in the hearing for the “Opinion on the Elimination of Asbestos in Europe,” published by the EESC. She organized asbestos awareness activities in Portugal, Cape Verde and for the “Portuguese Lung Foundation.”
Barry Robson, the President of ADFA, became a Union delegate of the Waterside Workers Federation in 1970 and was elected as Senior Vice President of that Union in 1988. In 1995 he was elected Assistant Branch Secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia, a position he held until retirement from the workforce in 2003. From 1991 to 1995 he was a Councilor on Blacktown City Council. He became a delegate to ADFA in 1996 and was appointed President in 2002 and elected President in 2003, a position he holds today. He has been appointed to the following, Asbestos Research Institute in 2004, Federal Government Asbestos in Telstra Infrastructure in 2013 and Federal Asbestos Safely and Eradication Agency (ASEA) in 2013. Barry has been awarded three Life Memberships, Maritime Union of Australia, St Marys Baseball Club and Blacktown Mt Druitt Cardiac Support Group.
Hassan Yussuff was elected president of the Canadian Labour Congress in May 2014, becoming the first person of colour to lead Canada’s union movement. Since his election, Hassan has led Canada’s unions in a major campaign to improve workplace rights for everyone and dramatically transform the way Canadians view the labour movement. Along the way, Hassan launched the CLC campaign that helped defeat the Harper government and delivered many significant victories for workers and their families. Under Hassan’s leadership, Harper’s anti-union legislation is being repealed, the Canada Pension Plan was expanded for the first time in history, migrant workers won key rights, and Canada announced a comprehensive ban on the import and export of asbestos. Hassan’s advocacy has also earned him an international platform as president of the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas, from which he continues to champion equity and workers’ rights around the world, challenge climate change and strive for a better world for future generations.
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Check back next week for the seventh and final installment of “Speakers, Honorees, and Leadership,” featuring our 2017 Sunday Unity and Remembrance Brunch speakers and performers.
In Unity,
Linda
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, does not make legal referrals.
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