Dr. Bennet Omalu Net Worth – $1.5 million
What are Dr. Bennet Omalu’s net worth and salary? Who is Dr. Bennet Omalu’s wife?
Introduction
Dr. Bennet Omalu is a Nigerian neuropathologist, forensic pathologist, physician, and professor at the University of California.
Dr. Omalu is best known for discovering chronic traumatic encephalopathy in American football players.
Biography
He was born on September 30, 1968, in Nnokwa, Idemili South, Anambra State, Nigeria, as Bennet Ifeakandu Omalu to a community leader in Enugu-Ukwu and a seamstress.
In 1991, he received his MB, BS degree from the University of Nigeria.
In 2004, Bennet earned his Master’s Degree in Public Health in Epidemiology degree from The University of Pittsburgh.
In 2008, Dr. Omalu earned his Master’s in Business Administration degree from Carnegie Mellon University.
He currently serves as a professor at the University of California, Davis Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.
From 2007 to 2017, he was the chief medical examiner of San Joaquin County, California.
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy
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In 2002, Bennet Omalu first examined the body of former American football player Mike Webster while working as a forensic pathologist in Pittsburgh. Note – the legendary center died at age 50 of a heart attack after experiencing signs of dementia.
He closely examined microscope slides of Mike’s brain and has observed that Webster’s brain was marked by abnormal, tangled accumulations of a protein called ”tau” that had damaged large numbers of brain cells.
Dr. Omalu concluded that this is evidence of severe neurotrauma, that he named CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy), and that Webster died as a result of the long-term effects of repeated blows to the head.
This was the first medical evidence that playing American football could cause brain damage. Bennet said:
”When you expose your head to long force trauma with or without a helmet, with or without symptoms, there is a significant risk of permanent brain damage 40 years later.”
The National Football League did not publicly acknowledge the connection between concussions sustained in football and long-term neurological effects until 2009.
In 2017, he said for Telegraph:
”I really wish I wasn’t brought into this. Lead a quiet life, enjoy my life, die a simple death.” Dr. Omalu continued: ”But now I have no choice. My life has been impacted in the most negative way. People are reacting very emotionally to me. They don’t like me.”
He also recommends that no child under the age of 18 should play contact sports, including – rugby, wrestling, boxing, mixed martial arts, ice hockey, and American football.
In 2020, The Washington Post reviewed over 100 papers from peer-reviewed medical journals and interviewed experts in brain injuries and neurodegenerative diseases, stating Omalu ”dramatically overstates the known risks of CTE and contact sports, fueling misconceptions about the disease.”
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Books
In 2008, Bennet published a book entitled – ”Play Hard, Die Young: Football Dementia, Depression, and Death.”
In 2017, he published the book ”Truth Doesn’t Have a Side: My Alarming Discovery about the Danger of Contact Sports.”
Concussion
His story inspired the film ”Concussion,” starring Will Smith as Omalu and Alec Baldwin as Dr. Julian Bailes. The film was written and directed by Peter Landesman.
© Guliver / Getty Images
It grossed $48 million worldwide against a budget of $35 million. Will Smith said:
”I thought Concussion would have a bigger impact. I thought that people would get behind the mission of that.” Will Smith continued: ”I was surprised that people were absolutely like, ‘Nope, I’m not stopping watching football, so I don’t want to know.’”
The basis for the film is the 2009 GQ article “Game Brain” by Jeanne Marie Laskas and her book ”Concussion.”
Wife
Dr. Bennet Omalu is married to Prema Mutiso.
Children
The couple has two children, named Ashly and Mark.
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Quotes
© Guliver / Getty Images
”I had met the families of the sufferers of this disease. They were suffering in silence, they were suffering in obscurity.”
”If you learn from my story, what made me successful is that I refused to conform to the definition and expectations other people had of me.”
”Based on my experience, there has not been any NFL player I’ve examined that did not have CTE.”
Trivia
He became a naturalized US citizen in February 2015.
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Dr. Bennet Omalu – Net Worth & Salary
So, how much is Dr. Bennet Omalu worth?
Dr. Omalu earned most of his wealth from serving as a professor at the University of California as well as from working as a chief medical examiner for San Joaquin County for a decade.
Dr. Bennet Omalu’s salary was not released to the public, but on average, the annual salary for a professor at the University of California is around $100,000.
He serves as the President and Medical Director of Bennet Omalu Pathology.
In addition, Dr. Omalu has published two books. On Amazon, Dr. Bennet Omalu has sold an estimated $25,000 copies.
It is unclear how much royalties he received from the movie ”Concussion.”
Therefore, Dr. Bennet Omalu has an estimated net worth of $1.5 million.
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