Bennet Omalu

Bennet Omalu is a Nigerian-American physician and neuropathologist whose examination of former American football players’ brains brought chronic traumatic encephalopathy to wider attention.

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Chronic traumatic encephalopathy: A progressive neurodegenerative disease associated with repeated head impacts and defined by abnormal tau protein in the brain. Omalu’s examination of football players’ brains helped establish this disease as a public concern.
Tau protein: A protein that stabilizes microtubules in neurons and can form abnormal aggregates in several neurodegenerative diseases. Omalu identified abnormal tau deposits in the brain tissue he examined.
Mike Webster: An American football center who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers and later developed severe cognitive and physical problems. Omalu examined Webster’s brain after his death and reported CTE pathology.
Robert Cantu: An American neurosurgeon and sports-medicine specialist known for research and advocacy on brain injury in sports. Cantu became a prominent collaborator and advocate for attention to CTE in athletes.
National Football League: The professional American football league founded in 1920 and comprising 32 teams. Omalu’s findings challenged the league’s account of the risks posed by repeated head impacts.
Neuropathology: The study of diseases of the nervous system through examination of its tissues. Omalu used neuropathological examination to identify distinctive brain changes.
Iron Mike (book): A 2005 biography of Mike Webster by his son, Jeremy, describing Webster’s life and decline. Its account of Webster’s final years provides context for the case Omalu investigated.
Ann McKee: An American neuropathologist whose research has documented CTE pathology in athletes and military veterans. McKee expanded brain-bank research on CTE after Omalu’s early case reports.
Concussion in sport: A mild traumatic brain injury caused by a blow or jolt that disrupts brain function. His work intensified scrutiny of how football handles concussion and cumulative impacts.
Traumatic brain injury: Brain dysfunction or damage caused by an external mechanical force. Repeated impacts that may cause injury provide the proposed exposure underlying CTE.