Bio Keynote with Will Smith and Dr Bennet Omalu
June 2016 – The 2016 BIO conference in San Francisco had an interesting keynote speaker pair – Forensic Pathologist Dr Bennet Omalu and Actor Will Smith who played Dr Omalu in the film Concussion. The title of the keynote was Knowledge Precipitates Evolution. For those unfamiliar with the movie and the story, it is about the discovery and challenge to notify the populist community that the injuries suffered from repeated blunt force trauma – such as helmet collisions in football and many boxers, is actually a disease called CTE – Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.
Will Smith and Dr Bennet Omalu at Bio 2016 Keynote
Dr Omalu talked about science for the sake of science, and the interrelationship of pure science and science faith. Together, these form a directive to search for the truth, and how to understand a situation. It is a guide for pushing to get to the end, and then knowing when you get there.
The search for the truth, lead Dr Omalu to keep looking for the reason and explanation behind the behavior and physical effects that impacted football player Mike Webster who was on his autopsy table. His search and curiosity drove him to not only use his own money for the investigation, but on many occasions bring the brain home from the autopsy facility. This resulted in his owning all of the IP of the findings on the case in the identification of CTE.
The addition of Will Smith brought a new dimension to the keynote. His celebrity and populist appeal brought a larger than usual crowd to the keynote. He started his discussion with the comments that the screenplay from Ridley Scott would make a great performance for someone else, as he was a football dad, and his kids were heavily involved in the sport in question. After talking to Dr Omalu he started to understand how important it was to get the message out. Not because it would identify a problem with the sport, but more importantly, it would identify an issue to those that played and enjoyed the sport – such as his children – and hopefully start to enact changes in the sport so it can still be enjoyed in the future without the lifelong impact on those that played.
The discussion included talking about Will Smith’s role in the movie Ali, and the recent passing of Mohammed Ali. The discussion hypothesized about if Ali had this condition, and how it may have impacted his indisputable effect on the US cultural community and the sports world. The presentation of the material by a spokesman from the entertainment industry carried a different spin on the keynote. There was a lot more posting to social media and people capturing content on their devices for sharing with others than a technical presentation would have had. There was also TV news and non-technical publications from the press covering the keynote.
The blending of media messaging and direct contact to the consumer level users of life science products is a growing trend. Pharmacutical advertising has all but replaced the volume of television ads that was once filled by the tobacco industry. The Bio Keynote was a validation that the trends is not only happening, but is here to stay.
