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| Dr Bennet Omalu |
Bennet
Omalu discovered Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in former football players,
sparking years of denial from the US NFL and the creation of a movie about
his life's work.
“There are times I wish I never looked at Mike Webster’s brain. It has dragged me into worldly affairs I do not want to be associated with. Human meanness, wickedness and selfishness. People trying to cover up, to control how information is released. I started this not knowing I was walking into a minefield. That is my only regret.”
—Bennet Omalu
Synopsis
Born
in Nigeria in 1968, Bennet Omalu graduated from the University of Nigeria's
medical school, before continuing his training in the United States. In 2002,
he discovered the presence of a degenerative disease in the brain of former pro
football player Mike Webster, naming the condition chronic traumatic
encephalopathy (CTE). His efforts to raise awareness of CTE were rebuffed by
the United States' National Football League (NFL), although mounting evidence eventually forced the league to make
concessions. Omalu's work was dramatized in the 2015 film Concussion, with Will Smith portraying the Nigerian-born doctor.
Early
Years and Career
Bennet
Ifeakandu Omalu was born in Nnokwa, Nigeria, in September 1968, during the
Nigerian Civil War. The conflict had forced his family to vacate its gated
compound in the village of Enugwu-Ukwu, but they were eventually able to
return there to resume a comfortable lifestyle.
The
sixth of seven children of a civil engineer and a seamstress, Omalu was a shy
but gifted student with a fertile imagination. He was admitted to the Federal
Government College in Enugu at age 12 and dreamed of being an airline pilot.
However, at age 15 he began medical school at the University of Nigeria.
After
earning his degree in 1990, Omalu interned at Jos University Hospital, before
being accepted to a visiting scholar program at the University of Washington
in 1994. He then served his residency at Harlem Hospital Center, where he
developed his interest in pathology.
In
1999, Omalu moved to Pittsburgh to train under noted pathologist Cyril Wecht at
the Allegheny County Coroner's Office. He continued his education at
the University of Pittsburgh, completing a fellowship in neuropathology in
2002 and a master's in public health and epidemiology in 2004.
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| Dr Bennet Omalu's Profile in September 2009 issue of GQ |
Discovery
of CTE
While
working at the coroner's office in September 2002, Omalu examined the body of
Mike Webster, a former pro football player with the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers.
Webster had displayed patterns of distressing behavior before his death from a
heart attack at age 50, and Omalu was curious as to what clues the former
player's brain would reveal.
After
careful examination of the brain, Omalu discovered clumps of tau proteins,
which impair function upon accumulation. It was similar to "dementia
pugilista," a degenerative disease documented decades earlier in boxers,
though it had yet to be connected to football players. After confirming his
findings with top faculty members at the University of Pittsburgh, Omalu
named the condition chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and submitted a
paper titled "Chronic
Traumatic Encephalopathy in a National Football League Player" to
the medical journal Neurosurgery.
NFL
Denial
After
the paper was published in July 2005, Omalu was informed by Neurosurgery's
editorial board that the NFL's Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI) Committee was
demanding a retraction. Omalu instead pressed forward with his examination
of Terry Long, another former football player who had committed suicide at age
45, and discovered the same buildup of tau proteins. His follow-up paper
to Neurosurgery was published in November 2006.
As
the mouthpiece of the NFL, the MTBI Committee discredited Omalu's research as
"flawed" and refused to acknowledge a link between the sport and the
brain damage in former players. However, Omalu gained an important
supporter in Dr. Julian Bailes, chairman of neurosurgery at the West Virginia
University School of Medicine and a former team physician for the
Steelers. With Bailes and lawyer Bob Fitzsimmons, Omalu founded the Sports
Legacy Institute (later renamed the Concussion Legacy Foundation) to continue
studies of CTE.
Despite
the NFL's public evasiveness, Omalu and his supporters scored a victory when
Mike Webster's family was awarded a significant settlement in December 2006.
The following June, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell convened a "concussion
summit" to discuss the issue with league doctors and independent
researchers, although Omalu was not invited to participate.
Continued
Studies and 'Concussion'
Omalu
moved to California in the fall of 2007 to begin his new position as chief
medical examiner of San Joaquin County, though he continued his post-graduate education
at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University and earned his MBA in 2008. That
year, he also published his first book, Play
Hard, Die Young: Football Dementia, Depression, and Death, and he
advanced the study of CTE by branching out to athletes from other sports and
war veterans.
By
2009, Omalu's exhaustive work on the subject began to bear fruit. He was
profiled in a September issue of GQ, which detailed his efforts to raise
awareness of football-related brain injuries and the NFL's refusal to
cooperate. Commissioner Goodell and other NFL executives were soon called to
testify before a House Judiciary Committee, sparking an overhaul of the MTBI
and rule changes to enhance safety, as well as a lawsuit brought forth by
thousands of former players against the NFL.
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From
left, Bennet Omalu, the pathologist; and Julian Bailes, the neurosurgeon.
(Photo: Mike Heithoff)
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Omalu's
story eventually reached the hands of Hollywood power player Ridley Scott, who
tapped Peter Landesman to write and direct a feature film, and convinced
actor Will Smith to sign up for a starring role. Titled Concussion, the film generated major
buzz before its Christmas Day 2015 release.
For
Omalu, the release of Concussion
served as the ultimate vindication for years of hard work, and provided a
spotlight for other endeavors. Along with his position as chief medical
examiner for San Joaquin County, he serves as president of Bennet Omalu
Pathology, as well as associate clinical professor of pathology at UC Davis
Medical Centre.
Source: Biography.com
