MRI of Neurogenic Human Motor Units Following Poliomyelitis
S. Maitland, M. Birkbeck, I. Schofield, et al., “MRI of Neurogenic Human Motor Units Following Poliomyelitis,” Muscle & Nerve (2025): 1–9, https://doi.org/10.1002/mus.70107.
Curriculum Vitae
Experience
Aug 2025 – Present
NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in Neurophysiology
Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust / Newcastle University
Aug 2022 – Aug 2025
NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow in Neurophysiology
Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust / Newcastle University
Feb 2022 – Aug 2022
Internal Medical Trainee
Northumbria Healthcare
Sept 2018 – Feb 2022
Clinical Doctoral Fellow
Newcastle University
NIHR funded clinical PhD research post in neurophysiology, examining novel neurophysiological investigations, including using Electromyography (EMG) as a biomarker of sarcopenia.
Aug 2016 – July 2018
Academic Foundation Doctor
Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust
Worked on software for a new medical device to diagnose neuromuscular conditions. Discussed requirements with clinicians, and iterated design according to ‘lean startup’ methodologies. Released code as open-source for future researchers to use.
Education
Member of the Royal College of Physicians — 2023
PhD Neurophysiology — 2023
Newcastle University
- Digital signal processing
- Neurophysiology
MSc Neuroinformatics & Computational Neuroscience (DISTINCTION) — 2023
Newcastle University
- Modelling neurological systems
- Computational neural networks
Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery — 2016
Newcastle University
Other Courses
- NIHR Good Clinical Practice
- Moorfields Hospital — Deep Learning in Healthcare
- Newcastle University — PGCert Clinical Research
Skillset
| Domain | Tools & Technologies |
|---|---|
| Data Science | numpy, pandas |
| Machine Learning | PyTorch, scikit-learn |
| Signal Processing | MATLAB |
| Web Development | JS, Django, Wagtail, CSS, HTML |
Projects
Experimental Neurophysiology
The overarching theme of my research has been in using novel neurophysiological methods to explore neurological disease. This includes Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Neuromuscular Ultrasound and statistical Motor Unit measures including Motor Unit Number Estimation.
Micro-EMG
I developed a signal processing pipeline to localise complex electrical signals in space around a needle multielectrode. This forms the basis of a medical device (patent #US20180289277A1) currently undergoing assessment by MHRA for improved diagnosis of neuromuscular diseases including ALS & Myasthenia Gravis.
ExplainThisPaper
Built a website in Python (Django) for the discovery and simplification of advanced medical journal articles. Used by thousands of budding medical researchers, and trusted by scientists including at UCL, Google Health, MHRA. Achieved grant support from Great Ormond Street Hospital & Newcastle University.
Other Roles
- NIHR Health Technology Assessment — Committee member development scheme
- Co-lead — Newcastle University Large Language Models special interest group
- Local ACF representative
Awards
Academic
- Newcastle University Neuroscience Accelerator Award
- European Congress Clinical Neurophysiology Visiting Scholar 2018
- NIHR Newcastle BRC Doctoral Fellowship 2018
- British Society for Clinical Neurophysiology Lord Adrian Prize
Personal
- HRH Duke of York entrepreneur award 2016
- Santander Postgraduate enterprise awards 2015
- GCHQ coding competition winner
- EPSRC create4dementia coding competition winner
- Member of British Society of Clinical Neurophysiology
Speaking
- Royal College of Physicians of London — Turner Warwick Lecturer 2022
- Newcastle University INSIGHTS Public Lecture 2021
- European Congress Clinical Neurophysiology 2018 — Best talk
Publications
Response to: ‘Cortical Inexcitability in ALS: Correlating a Clinical Phenotype.’
Baker MR, Maitland S. (2024). "Response to: ‘Cortical Inexcitability in ALS: Correlating a Clinical Phenotype.’" J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry.
Can ChatGPT pass the MRCP (UK) written examinations? Analysis of performance and errors using a clinical decision-reasoning framework
Maitland A, Fowkes R, Maitland S. (2024). "Can ChatGPT pass the MRCP (UK) written examinations? Analysis of performance and errors using a clinical decision-reasoning framework." BMJ Open, 14:e080558. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-080558.
Monitoring real-time junior doctor sentiment from comments on a public social media platform: a retrospective observational study
Sirkis T, Maitland S. (2023). "Monitoring real-time junior doctor sentiment from comments on a public social media platform: a retrospective observational study." Postgraduate Medical Journal. 99:423–427.
Estimating motor unit numbers from a CMAP scan: Repeatability study on three muscles at 15 centres
Sørensen DM, Bostock H, Abrahao A, Alaamel A, Alaydin HC, Ballegaard M, Boran E, Cengiz B, de Carvalho M, Dunker Ø, Fuglsang-Frederiksen A, Graffe CC, Jones KE, Kallio M, Kalra S, Krarup C, Krøigård T, Liguori R, Lupescu T, Maitland S, … Tankisi H. (2023). "Estimating motor unit numbers from a CMAP scan: Repeatability study on three muscles at 15 centres." Clinical Neurophysiology. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2023.04.008.
Ultrasound-Guided Motor Unit Scanning EMG (UltraMUSE)
Maitland S, Hall J, McNeill A, Stenberg A, Schofield I, Whittaker R. (2022). "Ultrasound-Guided Motor Unit Scanning EMG (UltraMUSE)." Muscle & Nerve. In press.
Serotonin syndrome
Maitland S, Baker M. (2022). "Serotonin syndrome." DTB, 60:88–91.
Machine learning as a new horizon for colorectal cancer risk prediction? A systematic review
Kennion O, Maitland S, Brady R. (2022). "Machine learning as a new horizon for colorectal cancer risk prediction? A systematic review." Health Sciences Review, 4:100041.
Electrical cross-sectional imaging of human motor units in vivo
Maitland S, Escobedo-Cousin E, Schofield I, O’Neill A, Baker S, Whittaker R. (2022). "Electrical cross-sectional imaging of human motor units in vivo." Clinical Neurophysiology, 136:82–92.
Sarcopenia and frailty in individuals with dementia: A systematic review
Waite SJ, Maitland S, Thomas A, Yarnall AJ. (2021). "Sarcopenia and frailty in individuals with dementia: A systematic review." Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 92:104268.
Ipsilateral Motor Evoked Potentials as a Measure of the Reticulospinal Tract in Age-Related Strength Changes
Maitland S, Baker SN. (2021). "Ipsilateral Motor Evoked Potentials as a Measure of the Reticulospinal Tract in Age-Related Strength Changes." Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 13, 612352.
Assessing inter-rater reproducibility in MScanFit MUNE in a 6-subject, 12-rater Round Robin setup
Sørensen DM, Bostock H, Ballegaard M, Fuglsang-Frederiksen A, Graffe CC, Grötting A, Jones K, Kallio M, Krarup C, Krøigård T, Lupescu T, Maitland S, Moldovan M, Nilsen KB, Pugdahl K, Santos MO, Themistocleous AC, Zlateva SS, Ööpik M, Tankisi H. (2021). "Assessing inter-rater reproducibility in MScanFit MUNE in a 6-subject, 12-rater Round Robin setup." Neurophysiologie Clinique / Clinical Neurophysiology. doi: 10.1016/j.neucli.2021.11.002.
AI: simply reinforcing medicine’s worst biases?
Maitland S, McElnay P, Brady R. (2020). "AI: simply reinforcing medicine’s worst biases?" BMJ Innovations, 6.
Talks
| Date | Title | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 10/03/25 | Combining Nerve Stimulation and Pulse-Wave Doppler Ultrasound to Measure Postsynaptic Muscle Facilitation | European Congress of Clinical Neurophysiology |
| 10/03/25 | A Case of Refractory Epilepsy Exhibiting both Generalised and Focal Clinical Manifestations, Along with Corresponding EEG and MRI Findings | European Congress of Clinical Neurophysiology |
| 11/03/25 | Motor Unit MRI in Polio survivors | European Congress of Clinical Neurophysiology |
| 14/03/24 | Motor Unit MRI in Polio survivors | British Society for Clinical Neurophysiology Annual Meeting |
| 15/11/23 | ExplainThisPaper: Using AI to make research more accessible | Newcastle University Researcher Development Programme |
| 30/09/22 | Micro-EMG: Imaging human motor units using a novel intramuscular electrode array | Clinical Academic Symposium — Winner, Best Presentation |
| 08/10/21 | Ipsilateral Motor Evoked Potentials as a measure of the reticulospinal tract in age-related strength changes | British Society for Clinical Neurophysiology — Winner, Adrian Prize |
| 23/09/21 | UltraMUSE — Ultrasound guided Motor Unit Scanning EMG | International Course and Conference on Neuromuscular Imaging |
| 13/07/21 | Why my research matters | Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre Showcase |
| 09/07/21 | Reticulospinal contributions to sarcopenia | British Society Gerontology |
| 02/07/21 | UltraMUSE — Ultrasound guided Motor Unit Scanning EMG | British Society for Clinical Neurophysiology |
| 11/06/21 | Reticulospinal Contributions to Sarcopenia | International Sarcopenia Translational Research Conference |
| 25/03/21 | “Is muscle weakness getting on your nerves?” | Newcastle University INSIGHTS Public Lecture series |
| 04/03/21 | UltraMUSE — Ultrasound guided Motor Unit Scanning EMG | European Congress Radiology |
| 13/11/20 | Is muscle weakness getting on your nerves? Reticulospinal Contributions to Sarcopenia | North East Postgraduate Conference |
| 07/06/19 | Micro-EMG: Imaging human motor units using a novel intramuscular electrode array | European Congress of Clinical Neurophysiology — Winner, best oral presentation |
| 27/04/19 | Clinical academic careers in neuroscience | Undergraduate Neurology Conference |
| 06/03/19 | Multi-electrode EMG imaging — towards understanding age-related muscle disease | Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University |
| 21/11/18 | BRC showcase event | Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre |
| 05/08/18 | Detecting neuromuscular changes in ageing muscle using multi-electrode EMG | Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University |
| 13/05/18 | Neurology for Finals | Medicine Finals teaching event |
| 14/07/17 | Does fibres’ inter-distance affect jitter? Tentative results from a multi-channel EMG needle | British Society of Clinical Neurophysiology |