NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in Neurophysiology
Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust / Newcastle University
NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow in Neurophysiology
Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust / Newcastle University
Internal Medical Trainee
Northumbria Healthcare
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.
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.
Newcastle University
Newcastle University
Newcastle University
| Domain | Tools & Technologies |
|---|---|
| Data Science | numpy, pandas |
| Machine Learning | PyTorch, scikit-learn |
| Signal Processing | MATLAB |
| Web Development | JS, Django, Wagtail, CSS, HTML |
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.
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.
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.
Maitland S, Birkbeck M, Schofield I, Blamire A, Whittaker R. (2026). "OP 19 Imaging neurogenic motor units in polio survivors using Motor Unit MRI." Clinical Neurophysiology, 185, 2111339.
da Silva AB, Maitland S, Suetterlin K, Anderson KN, Jaiser S, Baker M. (2026). "PO 171 From Generalised Genetic Epilepsy to Immune-Mediated Epilepsia Partialis Continua with two foci – A case report." Clinical Neurophysiology, 185, 2111183.
Maitland S, Browne G. (2026). "PO 289 Combining nerve stimulation and pulsed-wave doppler ultrasound to measure postsynaptic muscle facilitation." Clinical Neurophysiology, 185, 2111298.
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.
Harrison JR, Baharain RS, Donaghy PC, Maitland S. (2025). "Natural Language Processing for Analysing Patient and Caregiver Experiences of Dementia with Lewy Bodies." Alzheimer's & Dementia, 21, e108463.
Maitland A, Eales N, Maitland S, Riley E. (2025). "7987 Are paediatric trainees using ChatGPT? A qualitative study of perceptions, opinions and fears." Archives of Disease in Childhood, 110(Suppl 1), A103–A104.
Baker MR, Maitland S. (2024). "Response to: ‘Cortical Inexcitability in ALS: Correlating a Clinical Phenotype.’" J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry.
Suetterlin K, Mannikko R, Matthews E, Maitland S, Greensmith L, et al. (2024). "243P The effect of Nav1.4 Ile582Val gain-of-function mutation on mouse skeletal muscle excitability is sex specific." Neuromuscular Disorders, 43, 104441.626.
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.
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.
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.
Maitland S, Hall J, McNeill A, Stenberg A, Schofield I, Whittaker R. (2022). "Ultrasound-Guided Motor Unit Scanning EMG (UltraMUSE)." Muscle & Nerve. In press.
Maitland S, Baker M. (2022). "Serotonin syndrome." DTB, 60:88–91.
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.
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.
Maitland S. (2022). "Development of novel neurophysiological investigations for age-related muscle weakness." PhD thesis, Newcastle University.
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.
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.
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.
Maitland S, McElnay P, Brady R. (2020). "AI: simply reinforcing medicine’s worst biases?" BMJ Innovations, 6.
Maitland S, Escobedo-Cousin E, Schofield I, O'Neill A, Baker S, et al. (2019). "O-30 Micro-EMG: Imaging human motor units using a novel intramuscular electrode array." Clinical Neurophysiology, 130(7), e31.
Maitland S, Nesbitt C, Searle R, Stansby G. (2013). "The use of human cadavers and virtual reality simulation in endovascular training: a questionnaire of patient and professional opinion." International Journal of Surgery, 11(8), 737.
| 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 |