Dr. Bennet Omalu: Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy

Dr. Bennet Omalu founder of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a highly respected and renowned physician in medical communities around the world with high-level credentials to support his many accolades. The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicines at UC Davis Health published Dr. Omalu’s curriculum vitae, which documents that he received his Bachelor of Medicine-Surgery degree from the University of Nigeria in 1991. Subsequently, Dr. Omalu received his Masters in Public Health degree in Epidemiology from University of Pittsburgh in 2004, and decided to continue his education receiving his Masters in Business Administration degree from Carnegie Mellon University in 2008. Furthermore, Dr. Omalu holds five Board Certifications

Because of Dr. Omalu’s achievements, he is a Board Certified Physician Executive, meaning that he has attained prominence in the medical community by surpassing the level of expertise in his field.

In 2005, Dr. Omalu caused disruption in the National Football League (NFL) with his research linking repetitive head trauma to Neuro-degenerative disease (Omalu, Hamilton et al 42). The medical term Neuro-degenerative covers a wide-range of medical conditions that affects the nerve cells in the brain, causing encephalopathy or brain disease (Omalu, Hamilton et al 42-43). Accordingly, Dr. Omalu decided that his research was appropriate under this umbrella because his case studies post-mortem pathology exhibited chronic trauma to the brain, causing encephalopathy (Omalu, Hamilton et al 41-46). Appropriately, Dr. Omalu decided to name his research based on his findings, Chronic

During my internship, I observed and assisted in various departments throughout NCMC; however, I spent the majority of my internship in the Neurology, Orthopedics and Sports Medicine departments. While interning at NCMC, a surgeon in the Neurology Department introduced me to CTE and Dr. Omalu’s research when he learned that I was an aspiring physician and athlete; he immediately started to mentor me. He allowed me to shadow him, as well as participate in surgical and imaging preparation for his patience. As a student and veteran athlete majoring in Public Health concentrating in Epidemiology and Disease Control, CTE research is a very important topic for me to further my research. The education that I received from this surgeon is invaluable because it has helped me reconfirm my decision to pursue a career in the field of Orthopedic Neurology specializing in Sports Medicine. Subsequently, in 2016, my Acadmic Inquiry professor, Dr. Jacqulyn Scherer assigned team projects that involved using video games to teach real-time issues. I recommended the following topic to my team: “How Effective are NFL Video Games in Preventing Concussions?” Dr. Jacquelyn Scherer approved the idea; my segment of the project focused on “The Educational Impact of the John Madden Football Game Concussion Feature.” The more I researched CTE, the