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September 25, 2026
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) proudly presents the 168-page program for our 21st Asbestos Awareness and Prevention Conference, bringing together more than two decades of science, prevention, advocacy, justice, and community.
This year’s conference, themed “Exploring the Latest Advancements in Prevention, Treatment, and Justice,” will be held September 25–26, 2026, in Arlington, Virginia, during Mesothelioma Awareness Month.
For 21 years, ADAO’s conference has created a unique forum where leading physicians, researchers, public health experts, occupational safety professionals, attorneys, policymakers, survivors, families, artists, and advocates come together with one shared goal: prevent asbestos exposure and eliminate asbestos-caused diseases.
Inside the 168-page program, you will find:
- The complete conference agenda and event schedule
- Speaker biographies and presentation information
- Award honorees and recognition tributes
- Memorials honoring those we have lost to asbestos-caused diseases
- Survivor, caregiver, and community stories
- Updates on asbestos prevention, public health, policy, and advocacy
- Important resources for patients, families, workers, and communities
- Recognition of the organizations and individuals supporting ADAO’s work
- Special content reflecting on 25 years since September 11, 2001, and the continuing health consequences faced by responders, survivors, workers, and communities exposed to toxic dust
Our academic conference will explore the latest developments across prevention, health impacts, treatment, public policy, strategic communications, advocacy, and law.
Among this year’s distinguished speakers and experts are Dr. Arthur Frank, Dr. Raja Flores, Dr. Christine Oliver, Dr. Jacqueline Moline, Dr. Steven Markowitz, Dr. Michael Crane, Dr. Dan Whu, Richard Lemen, PhD, Bob Sussman, JD, Barry Castleman, Brent Kynoch, and many others who have dedicated their careers to protecting public health and advancing asbestos disease prevention.
Our keynote presentation, “On the Frontlines: 25 Years After 9/11, the Fight to Prevent Asbestos Exposure Continues,” will be delivered by Dr. Dan Whu of the International Association of Fire Fighters.
The weekend will also bring our community together through An Evening Under the Stars on September 25, featuring music by Jordan Zevon, Matt Cartsonis, and Jordan Summers, followed by the academic conference and our Awards and Recognition Dinner and Candle Lighting Ceremony on September 26.
This year carries particular meaning as we commemorate the 25th anniversary of September 11. The collapse of the World Trade Center released an enormous mixture of hazardous substances, including asbestos, exposing firefighters, first responders, workers, residents, students, and others throughout the surrounding community. Twenty-five years later, the health consequences continue.
That history reinforces why prevention remains at the heart of ADAO’s work. Whether exposure occurs during a disaster, renovation, demolition, at a workplace, in a school, or through legacy asbestos still present in buildings and infrastructure, preventing exposure before it happens remains our most powerful public health tool.
We extend our deepest gratitude to our volunteers, speakers, honorees, Science and Prevention Advisory Boards, leadership, performers, photographers, and everyone who has helped make our 21st conference possible.
A very special thank-you to our conference sponsors:
Platinum Sponsors: Dean Omar Branham Shirley, LLP and Simmons Hanly Conroy, LLP
Gold Sponsors: The Gori Law Firm and Motley Rice LLC
Silver Sponsor: Early, Lucarelli, Sweeney & Meisenkothen
Their generous support helps make ADAO’s education, advocacy, prevention, and community initiatives possible.
Our 168-page program tells the story of where we have been, the work underway today, and the people who continue pushing us toward a future where no one becomes sick or dies because of preventable asbestos exposure.
For more than two decades, our conference community has transformed knowledge into action, loss into advocacy, and collaboration into progress.
Together, we continue moving prevention forward.
Hear Asbestos. Think Prevention.™
With gratitude,
Linda Reinstein
President and Cofounder
Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization