ADAO is proud to launch our 2025 “Meet the Speakers & Honorees” blog 7-week series, celebrating the 20th International Asbestos Awareness and Prevention Conference—September 12–13, 2025, in New York City. Each week, we’ll spotlight the distinguished speakers, honorees, and ADAO leaders whose expertise, leadership, and dedication drive our mission forward and make this milestone event possible.
We are deeply grateful to these individuals and organizations for generously sharing their time, knowledge, and passion with our community. Their commitment to prevention and advocacy continues to inspire action and strengthen our shared fight to end asbestos-related disease.
Join us in New York City for this landmark event—register now to be part of the movement.
Speaker information for Session IV: Dr. Irving Selikoff, Paul Brodeur, and Beyond
Barry Castleman, ScD – Paul Brodeur’s 1970 Exposé in The New Yorker: “The Asbestos Industry”
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 50 years working on asbestos as a public health problem.
John Feal – Personal Story
John Feal is a nationally recognized advocate and humanitarian best known for founding the FealGood Foundation, which has provided over $10 million in direct support to injured 9/11 responders and their families. A U.S. Army veteran and
former demolition supervisor, John was gravely injured during recovery operations at Ground Zero. After losing part of his foot and enduring 46 surgeries, he turned his pain into purpose, becoming a relentless champion for justice.
John played a key role in the passage and permanent extension of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act and the 2019 Victim Compensation Fund, ensuring that first responders, survivors, and their families receive the care and recognition they deserve. In 2022, he joined forces with Jon Stewart to pass the PACT Act—securing historic healthcare for veterans exposed to burn pits.
A longtime supporter of ADAO’s prevention and policy initiatives, John stands united in the fight for public health. He has made over 380 trips to Capitol Hill, held thousands of meetings, and led efforts to pass 19 laws nationwide. Through every effort, John remains guided by one mission: to protect the Responders, Survivors, and Veterans who served our nation selflessly.
Brent Kynoch –Moderator
Brent Kynoch is the Managing Director of the Environmental Information Association, headquartered just outside of Washington, DC in Chevy Chase, MD. He has been the Managing Director of the Association since 1996, but previously had served EIA in other volunteer roles on the Board of Directors as an officer, and ultimately as the President of EIA in 1988 and 1989. EIA has spent 40 years at the forefront in providing its members with the information needed to remain knowledgeable, responsible and competitive in the environmental health and safety industry.
When Mr. Kynoch changes his hat to his “paying job,” he is the President of Kynoch Environmental Management, Inc., (KEM) an environmental engineering and industrial hygiene firm and he is the CEO of Clearity Environmental – a firm specializing in moisture control and mold prevention during multi-family construction.
Mr. Kynoch is a graduate of Vanderbilt University, where he received a degree in mechanical engineering. He is called upon frequently as a speaker, as a writer and as an expert regarding environmental contaminants. He has testified before both the US House of Representatives and the US Senate regarding asbestos, and has written numerous articles on asbestos, lead and mold. Most recently, Mr. Kynoch was presented with the Snider Lifetime Achievement Awardby EIA.
Christine Oliver, MD, MPH, MS – Suppression of Science and Manipulation of Public Perception
Christine Oliver, MD, MPH, MSc is an adjunct professor in the Division of Occupational and Environmental Health at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto in Toronto, ON. She is a medical consultant to Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW).
Dr. Oliver has an occupational and environmental medicine consulting practice in Brookline, MA. She is retired from her positions as associate clinical professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and staff member of the Department of Medicine (Pulmonary and Critical Care Division) at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
Dr. Oliver’s primary specialty is occupational and environmental medicine, with an emphasis on occupational lung disease. Dr. Oliver is a Fellow of the Collegium Ramazzini and has done research and published in the area of occupational lung disease, with a focus on asbestos-related disease.
She has lectured frequently on this topic, including, more recently, the determination of risk for asbestos-related lung cancer.
Dr. Oliver has testified before Congress and OSHA on asbestos and other workplace exposure issues. She has also testified as a medical expert on behalf and at the request of asbestos victims and their families.
Bob Sussman, JD – Legal Strategies: Driving EPA to Strengthen and Enforce Asbestos Laws
Robert Sussman, JD, is the principal in Sussman and Associates, a consulting firm that offers advice on energy and environmental policy issues to clients in the non-profit and private sectors. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and was a Visiting Lecturer at Yale Law School.
Bob served in the Obama Administration as C0-Chair of the Transition Team for EPA and then as Senior Policy Counsel to the EPA Administrator from 2009-2013. He served in the Clinton Administration as the EPA Deputy Administrator during 1993-94.
At the end of 2007, Bob retired as a partner at the law firm of Latham & Watkins, where he headed the firm’s environmental practice in DC. Bob was a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress in 2008. He is currently serving on the Board on Environmental Science of the National Academy of Sciences and as a Commissioner of the Interstate Commission for the Potomac River Basin.
Bob is a magna cum laude 1969 graduate of Yale College and a 1973 graduate of Yale Law School. Bob has posted numerous blogs on the Brookings
Institution Website and elsewhere and published articles in the Environmental Law Reporter and other publications.
