The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) held its 21st Asbestos Awareness and Prevention Conference on September 25 and 26, 2026, in Arlington, Virginia.
The event brought doctors, researchers, survivors, advocates, attorneys, and public health experts together to talk about where asbestos awareness stands today and what still needs to change.
Some of the biggest themes included:
- Advances in mesothelioma care and treatment
- Asbestos awareness and prevention of future exposure
- Corporate accountability and changes in asbestos law
- Health misinformation and the role of digital advocacy
- Quality of life during and after cancer treatment
Here are the biggest ADAO takeaways for patients, families, and anyone else affected by mesothelioma or another asbestos-related disease.
Asbestos Exposure Is Still a Serious Concern Today
One message came through clearly during the conference: Asbestos exposure isn’t just a problem from the past. Many older homes, schools, workplaces, and industrial buildings still have asbestos materials that can become dangerous if they’re damaged or disturbed.
Renovations, demolitions, fires, and natural disasters can release asbestos fibers into the air, which is why awareness and prevention still matter.
Dr. Raja Flores, Dr. Richard Lemen, and Dr. Arthur Frank discussed how asbestos advocacy has changed over the past two decades and what still needs more attention.
Learn more about where asbestos may be found and how to protect your family by downloading our Free Asbestos Products Guide.
Reliable Health Information Can Help Families After Diagnosis
A mesothelioma diagnosis can bring a lot of questions all at once. You and your loved ones may start looking online for specialists, treatments, survival statistics, financial help, and information about where asbestos exposure may have happened.
Unfortunately, not everything you find online is accurate or easy to understand. This year’s ADAO conference included a discussion about digital advocacy and health misinformation.
Speakers emphasized that good health communication isn’t just about reaching more people. It’s also about making complicated topics easier to understand and helping families know which sources they can trust.
Reliable information can help you explore mesothelioma treatment options, connect with experienced specialists, and better understand what may come next.
Mesothelioma Treatment Options Continue to Expand
Several conference sessions focused on advances in mesothelioma treatment and the importance of having different specialists work together on a patient’s care.
There isn’t one treatment plan that works for everyone, so doctors consider the cancer’s location, stage, and other factors.
Depending on the patient, mesothelioma treatment may include:
- Chemotherapy to slow cancer growth and help control the disease
- Immunotherapy to help the immune system recognize and attack cancer
- Radiation therapy to shrink tumors and help relieve certain symptoms
- Surgery to remove as much visible cancer as safely possible
- Combination therapy using multiple treatments based on individual needs
Working with doctors who have experience treating mesothelioma can be especially important. Dr. Andrea Wolf discussed advances in surgery and multidisciplinary care, including how specialists work together to build comprehensive treatment plans.
Quality of Life Matters During Treatment, Too
Cancer care can affect much more than test results or tumor size. Mesothelioma patients may also be dealing with pain, treatment side effects, stress, changes in independence, and the emotional strain of living with a serious illness.
Those concerns had a place in the conference as well, with discussions focused on the survivor experience, patient care, survivorship, and ways to support quality of life throughout treatment.
Medical tests tell doctors important information about the disease, but they don’t capture everything a patient is experiencing. Help with symptoms, emotional health, daily activities, and caregiving needs can also make a meaningful difference.
Mesothelioma Hope’s guide to improving quality of life with mesothelioma offers tips and resources that may help patients and families manage some of these challenges.
Mesothelioma Survivor Stories Offer Hope and Perspective
Several survivors at the conference shared what it’s like to live with an asbestos-related disease and how a diagnosis can affect both patients and the people closest to them.
Statistics are useful, but they can’t tell you exactly what will happen to one person. Every patient’s experience is different, and one survivor’s outcome can’t predict another’s. Still, hearing from people who’ve lived for years after a diagnosis can offer perspective and encouragement.
Mesothelioma Hope shares stories from mesothelioma survivors who’ve undergone various treatments, faced setbacks, reached milestones, and continued living their lives.
Julie Gundlach Marks 20 Years of Mesothelioma Survivorship
Julie Gundlach is a longtime mesothelioma survivor and advocate who has spoken about her experience with treatment, motherhood, and life after diagnosis. She has now reached 20 years of mesothelioma survivorship, a milestone she reflected on as a keynote speaker at ADAO’s Awards and Recognition Dinner.
Her journey has included major surgeries, chemotherapy, ongoing medical care, and years of advocacy for people affected by asbestos. She’s also touched on long-term challenges, including follow-up imaging scans, appointments, uncertainty, and lasting effects from treatment.
Julie’s story is a reminder that survival statistics are averages and can’t predict what will happen to you or your loved one. Some patients live far longer than their initial prognosis.
Asbestos Litigation Can Help Families Find Answers
The final conference session focused on asbestos lawsuits, regulation, legislation, and corporate accountability.
Mesothelioma attorneys joined legal and public health speakers to discuss asbestos litigation and its connection to public health. Simmons Hanly Conroy, a national mesothelioma law firm and one of the conference’s legal sponsors, also took part in the event.
For families dealing with mesothelioma, figuring out where asbestos exposure happened isn’t always straightforward. The disease can take decades to develop after exposure, so patients may need to look far back into their work and personal history.
Attorneys and investigators may review job sites, employers, products, medical records, and other available evidence to identify potential sources of exposure.
That work may uncover patterns such as:
- Workers exposed at the same job sites or to the same asbestos products
- Family members exposed to asbestos brought home on work clothing
- Communities exposed to asbestos released from nearby industrial facilities
Those connections may help families better understand where exposure happened. You can also learn more about mesothelioma legal help, including potential sources of compensation that may be available to qualifying patients and families.
Turning Asbestos Awareness Into Support and Action
The 2026 ADAO Conference covered topics ranging from treatment and survivorship to misinformation, prevention, advocacy, and the law.
For more than 20 years, ADAO’s conference has given doctors, researchers, advocates, survivors, families, attorneys, and public health experts a place to learn from one another and share new ideas.
Mesothelioma Hope supports patients and families with reliable information, real survivor stories, and free mesothelioma resources.
If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, call (866) 608-8933 or reach out to us online to speak with a Patient Advocate.
