The Brain Injury Research Institute is a new center for the study of traumatic brain injuries and prevention.
Its founding members include: Julian E. Bailes, M.D., Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at West Virginia University School of Medicine and former NFL and current NCAA team physician; Bennet I. Omalu, M.D., Forensic Neuropathologist, who is the Chief Medical Examiner for San Joaquin County, California, and Associate Adjunct Professor at the University of California at Davis; and Robert P. Fitzsimmons, Senior Partner at Fitzsimmons Law Offices, in Wheeling, West Virginia.
The Institute has established a brain and tissue bank. It now houses 20 brains for future research. Our research is dedicated to the study of traumatic injury to the brain, specifically including concussions and sub-concussive trauma. One of our founding members, Dr. Bennet Omalu, first discovered physical evidence of concussions and a disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in activities other than boxing. Since 2002, the Institute has been performing research on traumatic brain injury and CTE with the hopes of developing proper protocol for detection and treatment of the disease and of furthering research to ascertain genetic predisposition and pharmaceuticals that will lessen the disease’s progression and/or provide a cure.
Why a brain and tissue bank?
After an athlete’s death, a routine autopsy won’t detect specific diseases and trauma to the brain. We are examining the role of toxic proteins called tau, which are a sign of Alzheimer’s disease and have been identified in the brains of deceased professional and/or college football players.
Since 2002, the Brain Injury Research Institute members have collectively examined over twenty brains, including former NFL players Mike Webster, Justin Strzelczyk, Terry Long, and Andre Waters. They have also examined and diagnosed CTE in WWE wrestler Chris Benoit – in a much-publicized tragic case.
Dr. Julian Bailes
DIRECTOR
Dr. Julian Bailes
Dr. Bailes was the former team physician for the Pittsburgh Steelers and is presently the team physician for the West Virginia University Mountaineers football team. He has also been actively involved in the research and examinations done together with Dr. Omalu and is part of a group who has collected head injury data for the NFL, which is maintained at North Carolina University. He is the Medical Director of the Center for Study of Retired Athletes, based at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Kevin Guskiewicz, Ph.D. is the Director of the Center, which has been funded by the NFL Players Association and has conducted numerous studies on the health of retired NFL players.
Dr. Bennet Omalu
CO-DIRECTOR
Dr. Bennet Omalu
Dr. Omalu was the first person to discover physical evidence linking football-related brain injury and dementia. He discovered the condition of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (commonly known as CTE) in 2002 in the brain of Hall of Fame Center for the Pittsburgh Steelers Mike Webster. He has studied, using detailed histological analysis, numerous brain specimens of contact sport athletes, finding extensive brain damage (tauopathy). He also is author of the book “Play Hard, Die Young” – a major part of our national effort to alert players, parents, coaches, trainers, and school administrators to the dangers of repeated concussions.
Robert P. Fitzsimmons
CO-DIRECTOR
Robert P. Fitzsimmons
Mr. Fitzsimmons is a personal injury litigation attorney who has litigated numerous cases involving brain injuries, including closed head trauma. He was the attorney who handled the successful disability claim of former Hall of Fame and Pittsburgh Steelers great Mike Webster against the NFL, which is reported as the only disability lawsuit ever won against the NFL in court.
Garrett Webster
ADMINISTRATOR/FAMILY LIASON
Garrett Webster
Garrett Webster was hired by the Brain Injury Research Institute as its Player Liaison Administrator in 2009. He is the son of the late Mike Webster, a Hall of Fame center from the Pittsburgh Steelers, who was voted to the All Century Team by the NFL.
Following Mike Webster’s death in 2002, Garrett and his family continued the battle against the NFL seeking full disability benefits on behalf of his father’s estate and saw the litigation through to its successful conclusion in 2006. Garrett is in charge of the day-to-day operations of the Institute and is responsible for the Anatomical Gift Program, which receives brain donations for further research.
