Forensic pathologist Bennet Omalu speaking at theWinston Center for Leadership and Ethics鈥檚 Chambers Lecture Series.
As New Englanders fought the February chill by basking in the afterglow of their Patriots鈥� Super Bowl victory, a celebrated scientist arrived on campus with a cold, wet blanket鈥攁nd lessons on perseverance, evidence versus assumptions, and our common humanity.
Bennet Omalu is the forensic pathologist who discovered a brain disease in former football players, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). For years, he battled a National Football League in denial, a story told in the 2015 film聽Concussion聽in which Will Smith portrays Omalu.聽At the invitation of the Carroll School鈥檚聽Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics, Omalu spoke to a packed Murray Room in the Yawkey Athletics Center last month. The talk was part of Winston鈥檚聽Chambers Lecture Series.
His very name鈥攖hat is, his full family name, Onyemalukwube鈥攎eans 鈥渉e who knows, speak,鈥� which has proven fitting. Omalu was born in a refugee hospital in Nigeria in 1968, as that country鈥檚 civil war raged. At the moment of his birth, young Bennet鈥檚 father was in another hospital, recovering from a bomb blast. (The elder Omalu would carry shrapnel in his body for the rest of his life.) For his first two years, Omalu suffered malnutrition, which stunted his growth.
鈥淵ou can see how stony my face looks鈥� in a childhood photo, Omalu said, pointing to a slideshow and using his sense of humor to leaven heavy subject matter, as he did often, especially early in his February 23 talk. The crowd of mostly students tittered nervously when Omalu joked about his alcohol abuse in his twenties. As the speaker bore on, Omalu鈥檚 high-pitched voice grew louder and more intense.
A frail child, Omalu retreated into books and discovered the power of knowledge. He began medical school at age 15 and was a physician by age 21, on his way to earning, eventually, eight degrees (such as business and public health, to pick just two). He emigrated to the U.S. in 1994.
In 2002, while working in the Allegheny County Coroner鈥檚 Office in Pittsburgh, Omalu examined the brain of the late Mike Webster, a troubled former NFL Pittsburgh Steeler. Omalu had never followed American football and knew virtually nothing about it. It took a foreigner, Omalu said, to ask questions like, 鈥淲hy do they have to wear helmets? If this is a game, a game is meant to be recreational. A helmet means a risk of injury to the brain.鈥滱s New Englanders fought the February chill by basking in the afterglow of their Patriots鈥� Super Bowl victory, a celebrated scientist arrived on campus with a cold, wet blanket鈥攁nd lessons on perseverance, evidence versus assumptions, and our common humanity.
鈥淧eople say I 鈥榮peak to the dead鈥� [when performing autopsies]. No, I speak to the spirit鈥︹��
On a hunch, Omalu went beyond a routine autopsy to conduct an extensive microscopic study of Webster鈥檚 brain tissue. He found large buildups of tau protein, which would have damaged the regions of the brain regulating mood, emotions, and decision-making. The journal聽狈别耻谤辞蝉耻谤驳别谤测听published his findings.
The NFL dismissed Omalu鈥檚 research. 鈥淭hey claimed I was practicing voodoo medicine,鈥� he said. But he and colleagues persisted. On a mission now, Omalu paid out of his own pocket to find and study more and more brains of deceased football players, publishing a second study in 2006. The most significant factor in the disease, he reported, was repeated blunt-force trauma to the head鈥攖he kind experienced by many professional football players on every play. The NFL finally acknowledged the link between concussions and CTE in 2009.
One lesson in his story, he said, is not to give up faith. A devout Roman Catholic, Omalu said, 鈥淪cience and faith are not antagonistic; they are synergistic. If you have true faith, you have questions you can never have answers to, but you don鈥檛 give up faith. In science, guess what? The more you discover, the more questions you have that you don鈥檛 have answers to, but you don鈥檛 give up on science! Science and faith have a common end: truth.鈥�
A second point Omalu stressed was our common humanity. 鈥淧eople say I 鈥榮peak to the dead鈥� [when performing autopsies]. No, I speak to the spirit鈥攐f all of us. I saw myself in Mike Webster鈥t鈥檚 the same spirit that connects all mankind, a humanity we all share together.鈥�
Finally, Omalu called on listeners to examine their long-held assumptions. The NFL, he said, has sold us the act of following football as practically a patriotic duty. Fans鈥� unquestioning devotion to their teams long blinded them to the dark underside of the sport, in his view.
On the way out of the Yawkey Center, with Omalu鈥檚 words echoing in one鈥檚 ears, even a dyed-in-the-wool Eagle could be forgiven for lingering at the lobby displays with a newly troubled gaze. The mementos of 51茶馆鈥檚 gridiron glory鈥攐ld trophies, jerseys, photos, a cheerleader鈥檚 bullhorn鈥攂espeak an inescapable part of聽our聽identity. And these days, 51茶馆 programs use state-of-the-art guidelines for concussion care. Still, leaving Yawkey it was hard not to wonder if there are tragedies hidden beneath the vintage leather helmets, wherever they may be found.
Patrick L. Kennedy, Morrissey College 鈥�99, is a writer in Boston.
Photography by Catherine Wechsler and Greg Bodine.