Bennet Ifeakandu Omalu // ⓘ (born September 30, 1968[1]) is a Nigerian-American physician, forensic pathologist, and neuropathologist who was the first to discover and publish findings on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in American football players while working at the Allegheny County coroner's office in Pittsburgh.

After graduation with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) in June 1990, he completed a clinical internship, followed by three years of service work doctoring in the highland city of Jos.

[6] He became disillusioned with Nigeria after presidential candidate Moshood Abiola failed to win the Nigerian presidency during an inconclusive election in 1993[5] and began to search for scholarship opportunities in the United States.

[7] In 1995, he left Seattle for New York City, where he joined Columbia University's Harlem Hospital Center for a residency training program in anatomic and clinical pathology.

Webster had died suddenly and unexpectedly following years of struggling with cognitive and intellectual impairment, destitution, mood disorders, depression, drug abuse, and suicide attempts.

[13] Together with colleagues in the department of pathology at the University of Pittsburgh, Omalu published his findings in the journal Neurosurgery in 2005 in a paper entitled, "Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in a National Football League Player."

In it, Omalu called for further study of the disease: "We herein report the first documented case of long-term neurodegenerative changes in a retired professional NFL player consistent with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

This case draws attention to a disease that remains inadequately studied in the cohort of professional football players, with unknown true prevalence rates.

[5] In November 2006, Omalu published a second Neurosurgery paper based on his findings in the brain of former NFL player Terry Long, who suffered from depression, and died by suicide in 2005.

[17] Omalu also found evidence of CTE in the brains of retired NFL players Justin Strzelczyk (d. 2004 at 36 years old), Andre Waters (d. 2006 at 44), and Tom McHale (d. 2008 at 45).

The NFL's MTBI committee chair, Ira Casson, told the press: "In my opinion, the only scientifically valid evidence of a chronic encephalopathy in athletes is in boxers and in some Steeplechase jockeys.

"[15] The NFL did not publicly acknowledge the link between concussions sustained in football and long-term neurological effects until December 2009,[15] seven years after Omalu's discovery.

However, as late as 2013, the annual meeting of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN) included a debate between two sports concussion experts regarding the validity (or existence) of CTE.

A chemical tracer, FDDNP, binds to tau proteins, detectable by positron emission tomography, and associated with the distinctive topographical distributions characteristic of CTE.

[32] Omalu's efforts to study and publicize CTE in the face of NFL opposition were reported in a GQ magazine article in 2009 by journalist Jeanne Marie Laskas.