BU School of Public Health drops award offer to concussion researcher
By Dialynn Dwyer June 17, 2016
The Boston University School of Public Health is no longer offering its highest award to a researcher of brain injuries in athletes after he was quoted in an article questioning concussion research by a group connected with the university, The Boston Globe reports.
In April, the university told Dr. Bennet Omalu, who was portrayed by Will Smith in last year’s film Concussion, that he would receive the Beyond Health Award at the school’s 40th anniversary gala in November.
But days after he was quoted in the Sunday Boston Globe story, Dr. Sandro Galea, dean of the BU School of Public Health, informed Omalu he would no longer receive the award, Omalu told the paper.
Omalu, a forensic pathologist, discovered chronic traumatic encephalopathy in football players in 2002 when he performed an autopsy of Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster.
“It feels like a vendetta against me,” he said in an interview with the Globe.
When the forensic pathologist asked in writing for the reason the award was being rescinded, Galea wrote that the gala “evolved in the last month” and that the school would be “highlighting people with closer connections” during the 40th anniversary celebration.
