Dr.
Omalu, MD, MBA,
MPH, overcame massive efforts to discredit him and his research, and
today CTE is widely recognized as a health risk in millions of patients
with histories of repetitive brain trauma, including military veterans.
The 48-year-old Enugwu-ukwu, Anambra State born physician was working as
a forensic neuropathologist in Pittsburgh
when he conducted postmortem examinations of former NFL offensive
lineman Mike Webster’s brain and spotted what would become the hallmarks
of CTE.
"When I looked at his brain and he had diffuse amyloid plaques everywhere and there were no neuritic plaques … I took the slides home with me,” Dr. Omalu said in a 2015 interview. "I spent six months with those slides. I saw tau randomly situated, and not reminiscent of any other dementia that I knew. My first reaction, when I went to the literature, was that I expected to find previous reports like this, but I didn’t find even one."
He
had the case published in 2005 and went on to identify CTE in
postmortem examinations of numerous other former NFL players. Dr. Omalu
initially thought the league would be pleased to learn of
his findings, but when they were presented at an NFL meeting on
concussions in 2007, they were dismissed, and the league—through
lawyers, physicians and other experts—went on to mount a coordinated
effort to discredit Dr. Omalu and his research.
At the time, the Nigerian-born Dr. Omalu was not a U.S. citizen, and
his immigration status was dependent on his continued employment. He
stuck to his findings in the face of intense pressure, and in 2009—seven
years after his discovery—the NFL relented and publicly acknowledged
the link between concussions sustained in football and CTE.
"Because of the service Dr. Omalu has rendered to every player and every family member in the football and other sporting communities, I am delighted to present him, on behalf of the AMA, with the Distinguished Service Award—our highest honor," AMA President Andrew W. Gurman, MD, said in a statement.
"His meritorious service is all the more remarkable given that Dr. Omalu was relatively junior at the time of his discovery, having only completed his pathology residency a few years prior to describing CTE."
Dr. Gurman said he strongly believes "that Dr. Omalu—by his work,
determination and dedication—strongly exemplifies the best of American
medicine. Nominated by the AMA Board of Trustees and endorsed by the House of
Delegates, the Distinguished Service Award recognizes a member of the
AMA for meritorious service in the science and art of medicine.
Dr. Omalu attended medical school at the
University of Nigeria at 16. He became a U.S. citizen in 2015 and now
serves as chief medical examiner for the San Joaquin County Coroner’s
Office in California and is a clinical associate professor in
the University of California, Davis, Department of Medical Pathology and
Laboratory Medicine.
The story of Dr. Omalu’s CTE research and the pressure he faced from
the NFL inspired the 2015 film “Concussion,” in which he was portrayed
by Will Smith.
At the 2016 AMA interim Meeting, delegates voted to adopt policy
supporting research into the detection, causes and prevention of
injuries along the continuum from subconcussive head impacts to
conditions such as CTE.
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