Dr. Bennet Omalu, who was the first person to identify, describe and name Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) as a disease entity in football players and wrestlers, will present an endowed lecture at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 28, in Nininger Hall at Bridgewater College.
Omalu will speak about his research into brain damage in football players who have suffered repeated concussions in the course of normal play.
Omalu made a career breakthrough when he became the first doctor to discover and identify chronic brain damage as a major factor in the deaths of some professional athletes. He first discovered CTE as the result of an autopsy he performed on Mike Webster, a legendary Pittsburgh Steeler and Hall of Famer.
He continues to work as a forensic pathologist, neuropathologist and epidemiologist. He is the president of Bennet Omalu Pathology Inc., a private medico-legal consulting corporation, which he founded, and he works part-time as a forensic pathologist and neuropathologist at San Joaquin County in California. He also continues to work as a medical and legal consultant, advising governmental and non-governmental agencies, hospitals, corporations, industries, families and private attorneys in complex medical and legal cases.
His work has been featured numerous times in media platforms around the world, including best-selling books and award-winning documentaries. He has also published extensively in medical literature throughout his career.
In 2015, Omalu’s life and work were chronicled in a book and film, both titled Concussion. The film, starring Will Smith who portrays Omalu, will be shown at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23, in Cole Hall at Bridgewater College.
The program, sponsored by the Anna B. Mow Symposium on Comparative Religious Ethics, is free and open to the public.
Bridgewater College is a private, four-year liberal arts college located in the Central Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Founded in 1880, it was the state’s first private, coeducational college. Today, Bridgewater College is home to nearly 1,900 undergraduate students.
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