MEET DR. THEA JAMES: 2023 KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Thea James, MD, is Vice President of Mission, Associate Chief Medical Officer and Co-Executive Director of the Health Equity Accelerator at Boston Medical Center. She is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Director of the Violence Intervention Advocacy Program at BMC. Dr. James is a founding member of the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention (the HAVI). In 2011 she was appointed to Attorney General Eric Holder’s National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence.
As Vice President of Mission Dr. James works with caregivers throughout BMC.Additionally she has primary responsibility for coordinating and maximizing BMC’s relationships and strategic alliances with a wide range of local, state and national organizations including community agencies, housing advocates, foundations, and multisector industries that partner with BMC to meet the full spectrum of patients’ needs. The goal is to foster innovative, upstream, and effective new models of care that are rooted in racial equity and economic mobility. This approach uses an intentionality that is essential for patients and communities to thrive.
Dr. James served on the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine 2009-2012, where she served as chair of the Licensing Committee. She is 2008 awardee of Boston Public Health Commission’s Mulligan Award for public service, and a 2012 recipient of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Role Model Award. She received The Boston Business Journal Healthcare Hero award in 2012 &2015. She was 2014 recipient of the Schwartz Center Compassionate Care Award. The Boston Chamber of commerce awarded Dr. James with the Pinnacle Award in 2015, which honors women in business and the professions. In 2020 Dr. James received the American College of Emergency Medicine Lifetime Achievement Award. Also, in 2020, The History Project presented her with a History Maker Award. Dr. James recently received the inaugural 2020 Thea James Social Emergency Medicine Award from the American College of Emergency Physicians.
Dr. James’ passion is in Public Health both domestically and globally. She is a Supervising Medical Officer on the Boston Disaster Medical Assistance Team (MA-1 DMAT), under the Department of Health and Human Services. She has deployed to post 9/11 in NYC, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005, Bam, Iran after the 2003 earthquake, and Port-Au-Prince Haiti after the earthquake of 2010. Dr. James traveled to Haiti with MA-1 DMAT one day after the 2010 earthquake.
A graduate of Georgetown University School of Medicine, James trained in Emergency Medicine at Boston City Hospital, where she was a chief resident.
MEET DR. BENNET OMALU: 2023 KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Bennet Omalu is a Nigerian born physician who holds eight degrees and certifications in the medical sciences and business management. He attended medical school and holds a Doctor of Medicine [MB,BS] degree from the University of Nigeria, Enugu from where he graduated in 1990. He holds a Masters in Business Administration degree from the Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He also holds a Masters in Public Health degree in Epidemiology from the Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dr. Omalu holds four board-certifications from the American Board of Pathology in four subspecialties of medicine including forensic pathology, neuropathology, clinical pathology and anatomic pathology. He is also holds a board certification in medical management from the American Association of Physician Leadership and is a Certified Physician Executive.
Dr. Omalu has received three honorary PhD and Doctor of Science degrees from two universities in the United States, and from the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland in recognition of his work and expertise in brain injury and trauma. He has received numerous awards from across the world in recognition for his work and expertise in brain injury and trauma in both living and deceased patients. Dr. Omalu has received the “Distinguished Service Award” from the American Medical Association [AMA], which is the highest and most prestigious award a physician can receive from the AMA. He has been honored by the United States Congress for his work on brain injury and trauma and he has appeared on multiple occasions before committees of the United States Congress and committees of State Legislatures across the United States advising them on matters relating to brain injury and trauma, death investigation and the administration of justice.
Dr. Omalu identified and described Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy [CTE] in a retired football player, when he performed an autopsy and examined the brain of Mike Webster in 2002. Subsequently, he identified CTE in other high-impact, high-contact sports athletes and in military veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD]. His work and life have been featured extensively in all media platforms across the world, and in a major Hollywood film, “Concussion” released in December 2015 by Sony Motion Pictures, in which the renowned actor, Will Smith, played him as Dr. Omalu. Several New York Times best-selling books have also been published on his life and work including “The League of Denial” and “Concussion”. He has published several books and his memoir “Truth Doesn’t Have a Side” was published in August 2017. His latest book was published in 2018 and is titled “Brain Trauma in Contact Sports: What Parents Should Know Before Letting Their Children Play”. He has published extensively in the medical and scientific literature authoring many scientific papers and book chapters, with a major focus on brain injury and brain trauma. He continues studying brain trauma and is currently collaborating with other researchers looking for ways to definitively diagnose and treat CTE in living patients. Dr. Omalu was an appointed member of the Traumatic Brain Injury Board of the State of California from 2019 to 2021.
Dr. Omalu is the President and Medical Director of Bennet Omalu Pathology and is a Clinical Professor of Medical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of California, Davis medical school. Dr. Omalu is married to his wife Prema and they have two children, Ashly and Mark. They live in Vineyard, California.