Dr Bennet Omalu

Dr Bennet Omalu was born September 1968 and is a Nigerian forensic pathologist, who, as an Allegheny County Coroner’s Office neuropathologist, examined the brains of several deceased NFL players and was the first to publish findings of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in American football players. He is the central character portrayed by Will Smith in the film Concussion (2015).

He later became chief medical examiner of San Joaquin County, California, and is a professor in the University of California, Davis, Department of Medical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.

Omalu has also discovered CTE in the brains of veterans, publishing the first documented case in a November 2011 article. Omalu found evidence of CTE in a 27-year-old Iraq War veteran who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and later committed suicide. Omalu’s paper links PTSD to the CTE spectrum of diseases and calls for further study.

The efforts by Dr. Omalu to study and publicize CTE in the face of NFL opposition were reported in a GQ magazine article in 2009 by Jeanne Marie Laskas. The article was later expanded by Laskas into a book, Concussion, and a film of the same name. Omalu is portrayed by Will Smith. The movie's production led to the creation of a foundation named after Omalu to advance CTE and concussion research.