ADAO 12th Annual International Asbestos Awareness and Prevention Conference
“Where Knowledge and Action Unite”
April 8 – 10, 2016
Location: Crystal Gateway Marriott in Washington D.C.
Register Here
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Posted on March 7, 2016
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) is proud to present a new weekly series” Meet the Speakers and Honorees,” highlighting one or several attendees at our highly-anticipated 12th Annual International Asbestos Awareness & Prevention Conference! The ADAO Conference, which will take place on April 8-10, 2016 in Washington, DC, combines over 30 expert opinions, victims’ stories, and new technological advancements from more than 10 countries into one united voice raised for asbestos awareness. ADAO is the only U.S. nonprofit that organizes annual conferences dedicated solely to preventing exposure and eliminating asbestos-caused diseases. Register today!
Session I Speakers: Bridget Bersin; Arthur L. Frank, MD, PhD; Paolo Monico; Linda Reinstein
Session I Moderator: Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH
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Bridget Bersin is one of 19 grandchildren of the late Clarence Borel. His trial against the manufacturers of asbestos products was the first test case applying the strict product liability law. More importantly, it revealed the danger and destruction of asbestos as lethal to humans. It is because of him that we now have safeguards and protection in the workplace and elsewhere. Bridget resides in Texas.
Arthur L. Frank, MD, PhD 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, 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 effected 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 thirty-seven 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.
Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH, (Moderator), is 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. Prior to her academic appointment, Dr. Monforton was a federal employee at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA, 1991-1995) and Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA, 1996-2001). 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.
Paolo Monico is an Italian-American filmmaker based in New York. He is a member of the Directors Guild of America and in the past 20 years, he has been a character animator, a cartoonist, a storyboard artist, an assistant production designer, an assistant director, a director and a father. He has directed a TV movie and more than 150 commercials for clients like Coca-Cola, MTV, Honda, Playstation, Procter & Gamble, Volkswagen, Vodafone and many others. Some of his ads have been featured on Shots Magazine or shortlisted at the Cannes Advertising Film Festival. In 2015, he wrote, directed and produced his first short film, THE MOTHER, starring Mary Testa, Boris McGiver, Michele Hicks and Sylvia Kauders. The film is a love-letter to his father, Alessandro, who passed away in 2002 from mesothelioma.
Linda Reinstein, Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization Board Member, 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 in 2004, and now serves as President and CEO. 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.
Check back next week for the fourth “Meet the Speakers and Honorees” blog featuring to our 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.