Posted on February 27, 2019
ADAO 15th Annual International Asbestos Awareness and Prevention Conference
“Where Knowledge and Action Unite”
April 5 – 7, 2019
Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel
2019 Conference Info | Know Before You Go | Registration | Marriott Reservations | Agenda | RSVP for Events | Friday – March for Justice and Remembrance | Friday – Trolley Tour | Friday – Casual Dinner | Saturday “Meet the Artists” Reception and Gala Awards Dinner | Sunday Brunch | Honorees | Speakers | Speaker Information | Tributes | Sponsors | Media | Meet the Speakers Blog Series | 2019 Livestream | Previous Conferences
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) is proud to present a new weekly series “Meet the Speakers and Honorees,” which will highlight esteemed participants of our highly anticipated 15th Annual International Asbestos Awareness & Prevention Conference! The ADAO conference, which will take place on April 5-7, 2019 in Washington, D.C., combines 30 expert opinions, victims’ stories, and new technological advancements from 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 4 Speakers: Dr. Olawale Bakare, Alec Farquhar, Fernanda Giannasi, Courtney Davis Hissong, and Dr. Gopal Krishna
Session 4 Moderator: Dr. Barry Castleman
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Olawale Bakare, SIIRSM, MNISP, Executive Director Protec Consulting Nigeria. Wale Bakare is a respected, award-winning international Health & Safety Trainer and Management Systems Specialist. He has worked and trained in England, and across the African continent. His experience and expertise in health and safety have afforded him the opportunity to coordinate and supervise many health and safety projects both in the public and private sectors in Nigeria. Wale has consulted for the World Bank and the European Union Commission on in the Water sector in Nigeria and has extensive experience in training on working with and managing Asbestos in the United Kingdom and Nigeria. He is a member of the Institution for Occupational Safety and Health in the United Kingdom (IOSH) and the Institute of Safety Professionals of Nigeria (ISPON).
Barry Castleman, ScD is an Environmental Consultant trained in chemical and environmental engineering. He holds a Doctor of Science degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. He has been a consultant to numerous agencies of the US government and other governments, international bodies, and environmental groups dealing with a wide range of public health issues. He has testified as an expert in civil litigation in the US on the history of asbestos as a public health problem and the reasons for failure to properly control asbestos hazards. Dr. Castleman has spent the past 40 years working on asbestos as a public health problem.
Alec Farquhar is a lawyer with a long career involved with asbestos disease compensation and prevention. He is currently coordinator of Asbestos Free Canada. Previously, Alec was Director of the Office of the Worker Adviser (OWA), an agency of the Ontario Ministry of Labour which advises and represents non-unionized workers in their workers’ compensation claims and appeals. This included involvement in hundreds of asbestos disease cases. Alec came to the OWA from the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers where he was Managing Director, and before that from the Ontario Ministry of Labour where he was the Director of the Occupational Health and Safety Branch. In both of these positions, Alec was extensively involved in detection and prevention of asbestos disease as well as related regulatory enforcement. Alec has extensive experience in both workers’ compensation and occupational health and safety. He has a long history of working with vulnerable worker communities including immigrant workers, women and young workers. He has also worked extensively on partnerships with the employer community around dispute resolution, health and safety and return to work. This includes innovative joint return to work partnerships. He is fluent in Italian and French which has helped him connect directly with the francophone and Italian-Canadian communities. A graduate of Princeton University, Alec also has an L.L.B. from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. He has served on the Executive of the Ontario Bar Association Workers’ Compensation Section and has received the section’s Ron Ellis award for excellence.
Fernanda Giannasi is a Civil and Safety Engineer and ex-Labor Inspector for the Ministry of Labor and Employment for 30 years. 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. She was awarded with the Brazilian Judiciary Order of Merit by both the Regional Court of Appeal and the Superior Labor Court. In November, 2017 her efforts to ban asbestos in Brazil as well the fight for justice for asbestos victims and their families, brought about the important decision by the Supreme Constitutional Court (STF) that declared asbestos banned in all of Brazil. For this, in April 2018, she was honored by “O GLOBO”, one of the most important and respected daily newspapers in Brazil, with the Prize “FAZ DIFERENÇA” (Make the Difference) in the category of Economy field. Last November, the 2018 Ramazzini Award was presented to Engineer Giannasi by the Collegium Ramazzini for her leadership in the promotion of an asbestos-free Brazil and in broadening the rationale for supporting a worldwide ban on asbestos and was recognized as a hero of worker safety and health as well an exemplary public civil servant.
Courtney Davis Hissong is a journalist specializing in videography and photography. She spends countless hours volunteering as a senior Army spouse, a foster parent and advocate for a canine rescue organization and as her late father’s biggest champion, continuing his fight against Mesothelioma. Courtney created Larry Davis’ online presence, Action Against Asbestos, while helping him organize the South Florida Miles For Meso 10K & Fun Run. Since Larry’s death in 2012, she has continued to raise money and awareness for the asbestos community. In addition to working in computer science at Duke Law School, she recently graduated Duke’s Graduate Liberal Studies program with a Master’s degree. She currently resides with her husband and two rescue dogs at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson near Anchorage, Alaska.
Dr. Gopal Krishna, PhD has been a researcher and advocate on the subject of health hazards in hazardous industries like asbestos industry and ship breaking industry since 2000. He is the co-founder-convener of Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI) and editor of BANI’s journal, www.asbestosfreeindia.org. He did his PhD from Centre of Social Medicine & Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. His doctoral thesis is on industrial disaster of Bhopal and accountability of public institutions. He is law graduate and trained journalist Most recently he presented papers “Research on Chrysotile Asbestos: Failure of Ethics by National Institute of Occupational Health and National Human Rights Commission” at 14th World Congress of Bioethics in December, 2018 and “The future of work in the mirror of industrial disaster of Bhopal” at the XII International Conference on Labour History in March 2018. He is also a columnist and the editor of ToxicsWatch Journal, www.toxicswatch.org. He has been a petitioner in the National Human Rights Commission and Supreme Court of India.
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Check back next week for the fifth installment of “Meet the Speakers and Honorees” featuring our 2019 Session 5 Speakers.
In Unity,
Linda