Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) Announces New Staff and Program for 2010
New Website Strengthens ADAO’s Ability to Educate, Advocate and Build Global Connections
Redondo Beach, CA … January 26, 2010 — The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) today announces the launch of major initiatives to meet the multiple challenges posed by the organization’s rapid expansion of membership and workload. In January, ADAO hired co-founder Linda Reinstein as the non-profit’s first Chief Executive Officer. She is joined by ADAO’s new Director of Development, Jessica Like. This year Reinstein and Like, in concert with volunteer staff, will grow ADAO’s operation and scope, including the release of ADAO’s redesigned website (www.asbestosdiseaseawareness.org), which features an interactive forum to unite asbestos victims, family members, and concerned citizens.
Reinstein brings a 25-year history of non-profit organizational leadership to ADAO; throughout her career she has maintained an active interest in the building and sustainability of grassroots activism and leverages the power of technology. Her experience includes civic administrative roles in the Los Angeles area and executive volunteer positions that focused on cancer awareness and research funding. Motivated by her late husband’s diagnosis of mesothelioma, Reinstein was compelled to create an organization to educate and support victims of asbestos-related diseases. In March 2004, she co-founded ADAO with Doug Larkin. Since then, she has served as a volunteer advocate for asbestos victims’ rights and an international spokesperson for education to fuel enhanced treatment options, a cure for asbestos disease and a ban on asbestos. In her new role Reinstein will put her decades of experience to work to strengthen and expand ADAO’s global mission.
Commenting on her new position, Reinstein expressed her gratitude “to the many volunteers who have worked tirelessly to grow ADAO into the largest national non-profit organization advocating for asbestos reform over the past six years. This marks an important milestone for ADAO as it transitions from an all-volunteer effort to a partially staffed organization. Our volunteers, who remain the backbone of our organization, are proud of ADAO and recognize the progress made by our victim and scientific communities to serve as a voice for change across the nation and around the world.”
ADAO’s expansion will bring a new level of influence and increased capacity to educate the public about the dangers of asbestos. ADAO’s first Director of Development, Like, has several years of non-profit experience including work to raise asbestos awareness and launch research projects to improve medical treatments for patients with asbestos-related diseases at the Pacific Heart, Lung & Blood Institute. She brings with her both a deep compassion for all asbestos victims and an ability to help ADAO grow strategically and sustainably. With ADAO’s staffing and technological growth, the organization looks forward to maximizing its impact in the short and long-term.
Upcoming events in 2010 include the 6th Annual International Asbestos Awareness Conference which will recognize the impact that numerous advocates have had on asbestos reform, such as The Honorable Richard Durbin, United States Senator; Dr. Hedy Kindler, Director of the Mesothelioma Program at the University of Chicago’s Medical Center; and the Center for Asbestos Related Disease (CARD), in Libby, MT. The annual conference brings together hundreds of influential leaders and experts to discuss the battle against asbestos exposure. Sponsorship and tickets to the Chicago conference from April 9-11, 2010 are still available. Support at every level is needed in order to get closer to a full asbestos ban, raise awareness, and support research. For more information on this international conference and videos of past conferences, please visit:
www.asbestosdiseaseawareness.org/events/conference.html
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About Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization
Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) was founded by asbestos victims and their families in 2004. ADAO seeks to give asbestos victims and concerned citizens a united voice to raise public awareness about the dangers of asbestos exposure. ADAO is the largest independent organization dedicated to preventing asbestos-related diseases through education and legislation. ADAO’s mission includes supporting global advocacy and advancing asbestos awareness, prevention, early detection, treatment, and resources for asbestos-related disease. For more information visit www.asbestosdiseaseawareness.org.
Media Contact:
Doug Larkin
Director of Communications
Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO)
Phone: (202) 391-1546
