About After Exposure: Asbestos & Mesothelioma Stories
After Exposure: Asbestos & Mesothelioma Stories is a podcast dedicated to amplifying the voices of those whose lives have been forever changed by asbestos exposure. Through personal interviews, expert insights, and real-world narratives, the show explores the human side of mesothelioma, highlighting the challenges, resilience, and hope found along the journey. Whether you’re a patient, caregiver, advocate or simply seeking to understand the impact of this rare cancer, After Exposure provides a compassionate, informative space that connects listeners to powerful stories and vital resource.
Publisher
Brought to you by The Mesothelioma Center at Asbestos.com
Doctor Panel Discussion on Surgical Candidacy for Pleural Mesothelioma Patients
In this panel discussion, Dr. DeSilva from AdventHealth and Dr. Flores from Mount Sinai discuss the complexities of determining surgical candidacy for pleural mesothelioma patients. The experts detail various factors considered during assessment, including health status, functional ability, disease stage, and cell types such as epithelioid or sarcomatoid. They address common misconceptions regarding surgical invasiveness and recovery, highlighting the evolution from highly invasive procedures like extrapleural pneumonectomy to more tailored approaches like pleurectomy decortication. The panelists emphasize the importance of seeking care at specialized centers of excellence, the value of a multi-modality treatment approach, and the necessity of maintaining a positive mental attitude. Throughout the conversation, the doctors stress that mesothelioma is not a death sentence and encourage patients to seek experienced specialists and second opinions.
14 Sept 2026
How Mesothelioma Awareness Day Grew Into a Movement
Linda Reinstein, president and co-founder of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, joins The Mesothelioma Center at Asbestos.com (http://Asbestos.com) to discuss the history and impact of Mesothelioma Awareness Day, held annually on September 26. She shares how patients, families and advocates helped build support for federal recognition of the day and how that effort grew into Mesothelioma Awareness Month. She also discusses how awareness has changed public perception of mesothelioma, strengthened the patient and family community and continues to support efforts to prevent future asbestos-related diseases.
12 Aug 2026
A Firsthand Look at Treating Asbestos Cancers 25 Years After 9/11 Dr. Raja Flores
Dr. Raja Flores, thoracic surgeon at Mount Sinai in New York, joins Asbestos.com to discuss 25 years of treating patients with asbestos exposure after 9/11. Dr. Flores shares his personal experience caring for people diagnosed with mesothelioma and lung cancer connected to Ground Zero exposure, including what doctors have learned about diagnosis, treatment and long-term health risks. He also discusses why asbestos-related diseases can take decades to develop and what people with a history of 9/11 exposure should know about their health.
23 Jul 2026
State of Asbestos in Schools
This podcast episode explores the state of asbestos in schools across the United States. Every few weeks, another headline breaks: a school in Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York City, or
Philadelphia temporarily closes, evacuates, or is under scrutiny because of asbestos exposure. The episode will cover asbestos evaluations at schools, asbestos safety laws for schools and other topics. Our host is Kailene De Leon, public relations specialist, and our guest is Walter Pacheco, managing editor of Asbestos.com.
22 Jun 2026
Alternatives to Talc-Based Cosmetics
This podcast episode explores the role of talc in cosmetics like body powders and eyeshadows, regulations around talc in cosmetics, alternatives to talc-based products and how consumers can better understand the “asbestos-free” and “natural” labels many of these products carry. Our host is Danielle DiPietro, financial advocate and board-certified patient advocate at The Mesothelioma Center at Asbestos.com (http://Asbestos.com), and our guest is Whitney Di Bona, an attorney and consumer safety advocate at Drugwatch.com (http://Drugwatch.com).
26 May 2026
Using AI in Cancer Care
In this podcast episode from The Mesothelioma Center, host Walter Pacheco interviews Dr. Estelamari Rodriguez, a thoracic medical oncologist at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, about the growing use of AI in cancer care. Dr. Rodriguez discusses how patients are increasingly using AI tools like ChatGPT to research their mesothelioma diagnosis, generate structured questions for doctor visits, and understand treatment options. While she sees AI as a valuable educational tool that empowers patients and improves medical literacy, she emphasizes important limitations, particularly for rare diseases like mesothelioma where published data is limited. The conversation covers the digital divide among different age groups, the importance of maintaining doctor-patient relationships despite AI use, and the need for patients to verify AI-generated information with medical experts. Dr. Rodriguez also explores the future potential of AI in research, including better tumor modeling and faster clinical trial development through international data collaboration. Throughout the discussion, she stresses that while AI can enhance patient education and communication, it cannot replace the expertise of experienced medical teams familiar with mesothelioma treatment and clinical trial opportunities.
13 Apr 2026
Understanding Asbestos Exposure and Emergency Restoration
Managing editor at The Mesothelioma Center at Asbestos.com (http://Asbestos.com), Walter Pacheco, interviews Chief Operating Officer and Principal Project Consultant for ELEMENT Building Sciences, Derrick J. Hall. The podcast dives into the role of restoration in asbestos exposure, Hall’s experience encountering asbestos in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, increasing asbestos awareness and training, and his work with the Restoration Industry Association, among other topics related to asbestos exposure.
30 Mar 2026
The Push for an Asbestos Ban at a Critical Moment
Medical Outreach Director Missy Miller of The Mesothelioma Center interviews Linda Reinstein, BCPA, president and co-founder of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization. Reinstein launched ADAO after doctors diagnosed her husband, Alan Reinstein, with mesothelioma. She channeled that personal tragedy into global advocacy through storytelling, an annual Global Asbestos Awareness Week, and a curated book of over 200 patient and family stories. Reinstein also champions the Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now Act. In this podcast, Reinstein discusses how the ARBAN bill seeks to ban all eight asbestos fibers and raises transparency concerns about the White House East Wing demolition, having filed Freedom of Information Act requests to verify whether administration officials followed proper asbestos inspection, abatement and disposal regulations in that project.
16 Feb 2026
The Impact of Federal Funding on Cancer Research
Chief Medical Officer at The Mesothelioma Center, Dr. Catherine Perrault, and Director of Thoracic Oncology at the University of Hawaii Cancer Center, Dr. Michele Carbone, discuss the impact of federal funding on cancer research, specifically its progressive decline over the last 25 years. Together, they explain how the amount of money allocated in grants, which leads to treatment (https://www.asbestos.com/treatment/) innovations, has not kept pace with inflation and the rising cost of newer technology. This episode particularly explores how the decrease in funding affects all cancers, but rare cancers like mesothelioma (https://www.asbestos.com/mesothelioma/) are disproportionately impacted because study sections inevitably prioritize more common malignancies like lung, breast and prostate cancer. Dr. Carbone stresses that research isn’t solely funded by the federal government, and that it needs more support from pharma, donations and the American people.
17 Dec 2025
J&J on Trial: The Talc Litigation Story
In the premiere episode of our new podcast, “After Exposure: Asbestos and Mesothelioma Stories,” patient advocate Danielle DiPietro joins attorney and consumer safety advocate Whitney Di Bona for a revealing conversation about the dark legal legacy of Johnson & Johnson’s famous baby powder. Together, they uncover how asbestos-laced talc (https://www.asbestos.com/products/talcum-powder/) in Johnson’s Baby Powder has been tied to mesothelioma (https://www.asbestos.com/mesothelioma/) and ovarian cancer, what internal documents show J&J knew for decades, and why the company now faces tens of thousands of asbestos lawsuits (https://www.asbestos.com/mesothelioma-lawyer/lawsuit/). This episode unpacks how asbestos exposure (https://www.asbestos.com/exposure/) occurs, who’s at risk (including men, women, and children), and what every consumer should know and do to safeguard their health and demand accountability from corporations that endanger the public.
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