Nigerian-born Dr. Bennet Omalu,
currently the Chief Medical Examiner, San Joaquin County, California, and
President/Medical Director of Bennet Omalu Pathology, was the first to
identify, describe and name a new disorder known as Chronic Traumatic
Encephalopathy, CTE, as a disease entity in American football players and
wrestlers.
A forensic pathologist, and
certified physician executive in medical management, Omalu, 47, who hails from
Anambra state, discovered in 2002 a condition described as Chronic Traumatic
Encephalopathy, CTE, a neurodegenerative disease in the brains of football
players caused by repeated brain trauma over time and causes depression,
dementia, and other behavioural changes.
Popularly known as the “Concussion
Doctor”, Omalu made his landmark discovery following an autopsy he performed on
former Pittsburgh Steelers star Mike Webster.
Webster, aged 50, had died of a
heart attack after years of depression and dementia that led to him becoming
homeless and forgetting how to do basic things, such as eating.
From the examination Omalu made of
Webster and other football players, including Dave Duerson and Andre Waters, he
determined that repeated head trauma from the sport causes a brain condition
that leads to memory loss, impaired judgement, impulse control problems,
aggression, depression, and eventually progressive dementia.
Although doctors knew that boxers
suffered brain problems after years of continuous head trauma, it was Omalu who
first associated the condition with football players.
When Omalu cut slices from Webster’s
brain and looked at them under a microscope, he was surprised to see tangled
proteins and other characteristic signs of CTE.
A year later, Omalu examined the
brain of Terry Long — another Steelers legend, who’d killed himself at age 45
by drinking antifreeze — and saw the same picture.
“This stuff should not be in the
brain of a 45-year-old man,” Omalu later said. “This looks more like a
90-year-old brain with advanced Alzheimer’s.”
Prompted by Omalu’s discovery,
doctors at Boston University’s CTE Centre examined 79 deceased NFL players’
brains and found CTE in 76 of them. Many died by suicide or had dramatic
changes in personality after retirement. Still, the overall rate of CTE in all
players is unknown — it could be an epidemic or a relatively rare problem.
Omalu’s discovery of CTE raised
numerous concerns about the safety of American football, a development that the
National Football League, NFL, challenged vigorously. For years, though,
the NFL tried its best to hide the evidence about football and brain trauma,
and after Omalu published his findings, the NFL attempted to cover the facts
and accused him of fraud and practicing voodoo.
He was barred from league meetings
on football and the brain, along with other doctors who later worked on CTE.
Omalu’s Nigerian descent was
questioned and he was accused of attacking the American way of life. But his
discovery gained more attention and eventually, the NFL was compelled to
introduce a concussion guideline in the game.
But the Nigerian’s finding — and the
subsequent discovery of CTE in dozens of deceased football players —
subsequently transformed the football world, raising concerns about the safety
of American football.
A movie, entitled “Concussion” that
is based on this discovery, is scheduled to premiere September 8, 2015, in
which Hollywood star, Will Smith, plays Dr. Bennet Omalu. The trailer for
the movie released this week, tells the true story of the Nigerian-born
doctor’s discovery, and it is expected to make many Americans rethink the
dangers of football and how the NFL functions.
In 2009, the league finally
acknowledged the problem and instituted concussion management guidelines, which
include neuropsychological testing on all NFL players to help determine when a
player could return to play after a head injury.
It introduced new
protocols to make sure concussed players are properly diagnosed, and donated
money for concussion and CTE research.
Omalu obtained his medical degree
from the University of Nigeria in 1991, Masters in Public Health, MPH, degree
in Epidemiology from University of Pittsburgh in 2004, and Masters in Business
Administration, MBA, from Carnegie Mellon University in 2008, and holds four
board certifications in Anatomic Pathology, Clinical Pathology, Forensic
Pathology and Neuropathology.
He has testified twice before the
United States Congress and has provided hundreds of testimonies as an expert
witness in federal courts and state courts across the United States. A member
of many professional organizations, including but not limited to the College of
American Pathologists, American Society of Clinical Pathology, American College
of Physician Executives, American College of Epidemiologists, American
Association of Neuropathologists, American Academy of Forensic Sciences,
National Association of Medical Examiners, International Academy of Pathology
and American Medical Association.
VIA: VANGUARDNG
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