Posted: Thursday, September 15, 2016

Dr. Bennett Omalu, the first doctor to diagnose chronic brain damage in NFL athletes, will be the guest speaker for the University of Evansville’s Patricia H. Snyder Lecture in on Thursday, October 13, at 7:00 p.m., in downtown Evansville at the Old National Events Plaza Ballroom.

The event is free and open to the public and tickets may be reserved online at www.uealumnionline.com/omalu.

The event was originally planned to be held on the University of Evansville’s campus, but due to overwhelming community interest, it was moved to Old National Events Plaza Ballroom to accommodate more guests.

Omalu’s life story was chronicled in a recent book and in a major motion picture, both titled Concussion. Born in 1968 in Eastern Nigeria, Omalu and his family lived as refugees, his town under fire by the Nigerian Air Force. Despite this, he would go on to attend medical school at age 15 and become a physician by age 21. In 2002, Omalu made a career breakthrough when he became the first doctor to discover and identify chronic brain damage as a major factor in the deaths of some professional athletes. He called the disease Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). He was also the first to discover CTE in military veterans diagnosed with PTSD, as well as professional wrestlers.

But his findings were dismissed and ridiculed by his professional peers, the NFL, and the sports industry. But he stood his ground, and today, CTE has become generally accepted. Omalu’s findings have revolutionized neuroscience, sports medicine and safety, study of all types of brain trauma, and the sports industry. Omalu was awarded a WebMD Health Heroes 2015 award for his discovery of CTE and raising awareness to the disease. This award is given to those who do great things to help others live healthier, better lives.

A public reception, sponsored by the St. Mary’s Sports Concussion Alliance will immediately follow the lecture.

Additional sponsors include St. Mary’s Hospital, Tri-State Orthopaedics, and ProRehab.

The Patricia H. Snyder Concert and Lecture Series was made possible in 1997 through an endowment from the late Patricia H. Snyder, trustee and longtime friend of University, to bring speakers or performers of renown to Evansville at no cost to the public.

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