The National Disease Research Interchange (NDRI) recently awarded its highest honor, the D. Walter Cohen Service to Science Award, to Dr. Bennet I. Omalu, the doctor who first identified chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in football players and whose story is told in the 2015 feature film “Concussion.” Pictured (l. to r.) are President Mary J.C. Hendrix, chair of NDRI; Dr. Julian Bailes, former chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at West Virginia University School of Medicine and a leader in the field of neurosurgery; Omalu; Dr. Walter Cohen, the award’s namesake and former NDRI chair; and Bill Leinweber, NDRI president and CEO.
President Mary J.C. Hendrix ’74 recently participated in the National Disease Research Interchange (NDRI) Scientific Symposium and Service to Science Awards Dinner in Philadelphia, where the physician played by Will Smith in the 2015 film Concussion was honored. NDRI awarded the D. Walter Cohen Service to Science Award to Dr. Bennet I. Omalu, the doctor who first identified chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in football players who have experienced concussions.
NDRI is a nonprofit organization that provides human tissue to scientists for research. Hendrix is chair of NDRI’s board of directors.
The November 18 scientific symposium that preceded the awards dinner included two panel discussion–Relief: The Role of Human Tissue in Pain Research and Impact: Brain Tissue as the Fuel of Scientific Discovery. Omalu delivered the keynote address at the dinner, discussing the importance of human tissue donation in studying CTE in athletes, military veterans, and others.