Matthew S Willsey, MD, PhD
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2800
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About
Matthew attended MIT where he received B.S. and M.Eng. degrees in Electrical Engineering with a research focus in digital signal processing. He later attended medical school at Baylor College of Medicine and completed his neurosurgery residency at the University of Michigan in 2022. He completed a PhD in Biomedical Engineering during his 2-year resident research time plus an additional leave-of-absence year. His research focused on intracortical brain-computer interfaces, computational neuroscience, and neuromodulation. After graduation, he completed a one-year, post-graduate appointment as a clinical instructor stereotactic/functional neurosurgery and epilepsy at Stanford University where he conducted research in the Neural Prosthetics Translational Lab directed by Dr. Jaimie Henderson.
He is currently an assistant professor of neurosurgery and biomedical engineering at the University of Michigan and is core faculty in the neural engineering cluster of the Biointerfaces Institute and Michigan Neuroscience Institute Affiliate.
Links
Lab Website twitter linkedin
Qualifications
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Functional Neurosurgery FellowshipStanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, United States
2022 - 2023
Postdoctoral Fellowship
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ResidencyUniversity of Michigan Medical School, Department of Neurosurgery, Ann Arbor, United States
2020 - 2022
Residency
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ResidencyUniversity of Michigan Medical School, Department of Neurosurgery, Ann Arbor, United States
2014 - 2019
Residency
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Committee on Advanced Subspecialty Training (CAST) FellowshipUniversity of Michigan Medical School, Department of Neurosurgery, Ann Arbor, United States
2018 - 2019
Postdoctoral Fellowship
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PhD, Biomedical EngineeringUniversity of Michigan–Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, United States
2019 - 2020
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MDBaylor College of Medicine, Houston, United States
2010 - 2014
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ME, Electrical Engineering and Computer ScienceMassachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States
2005 - 2006
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BS, Electrical Science and EngineeringMassachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States
2003 - 2005
Center Memberships
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Center MemberBiointerfaces Institute
Research Overview
My research focuses on developing multi-effector control for fine motor movements and digital interfaces using non-linear decoding algorithms and novel approaches to account for neural instability.
Recent Publications
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Mender MJ, Ward AL, Cubillos LH, Kelberman MM, Costello JT, Temmar H, Wallace DM, Lin ET, Lam JLW, Willsey MS, Ganesh Kumar N, Kung TA, Patil PG, Chestek CA. Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, 2026 Aug 6;Journal ArticleFunctional electrical stimulation and brain-machine interfaces for simultaneous control of wrist and finger flexion
DOI:10.1186/s12984-026-02091-7 -
Cubillos LH, Kelberman MM, Mender MJ, Hite A, Temmar H, Willsey M, Kumar NG, Kung TA, Patil PG, Chestek C, Krishnan C. Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, 2026 Aug 1; 44 (3): 374 - 389.Journal ArticleExploring Synergies in Brain-Machine Interfaces: Compression vs. Performance
DOI:10.1177/09226028261457824 PMID: 42328775 -
Mender M, Costello J, Willsey M. Neurosurgery, 2026 Mar 17; 72 (Supplement_1): 286 - 286.Journal Article2147 Stable Intracortical Brain-Computer Interfaces in People With Motor Disabilities
DOI:10.1227/neu.0000000000003964_2147 -
Lam J, Letner J, Copenhaver M, Ward A, Slosar N, Isbrecht M, Simons J, Hite A, De La Lama Flores A, Liu H, Walker L, Patel P, Patil PG, Cai D, Willsey M, Chestek C. Neurosurgery, 2026 Mar 17; 72 (Supplement_1): 123 - 123.Journal Article430 Development and Multimodal Validation of the Smallest-Diameter Electrode Intracortical Array to Date in a Large Animal Model for Brain-Computer Interfaces
DOI:10.1227/neu.0000000000003964_430 -
Temmar H, Wang Y, Gill N, Mellon N, Liu C, Cubillos L, Parsons R, Costello J, Ceradini M, Kelberman M, Mender M, Hite A, Wallace D, Nason-Tomaszewski S, Patil P, Willsey M, Draelos A, Chestek C. NeurIPS, 2026 May 4;Journal ArticleLong-term Intracortical Neural activity and Kinematics (LINK): An intracortical neural dataset for chronic brain-machine interfaces, neuroscience, and machine learning
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Temmar H, Willsey MS, Costello JT, Mender MJ, Cubillos LH, DeMatteo JC, Lam JLW, Wallace DM, Kelberman MM, Patil PG, Chestek CA. Journal of Neural Engineering, 2025 Jun 1; 22 (3):Journal ArticleInvestigating the benefits of artificial neural networks over linear approaches to BMI decoding
DOI:10.1088/1741-2552/ade568 PMID: 40527337 -
Jamiolkowski RM, Datta A, Willsey MS, Parvizi J, Buch VP. Journal of Neurosurgery, 2025 Apr 1; 142 (4): 936 - 944.Journal ArticleMultinuclear thalamic targeting with human stereotactic electroencephalography: surgical technique and nuances
DOI:10.3171/2024.7.JNS24452 PMID: 39576976 -
Cubillos LH, Kelberman MM, Mender MJ, Hite A, Temmar H, Willsey M, Kumar NG, Kung TA, Patil PG, Chestek C, Krishnan C. 2025 Feb 3;PreprintExploring Synergies in Brain-Machine Interfaces: Compression vs. Performance.
DOI:10.1101/2025.02.03.636273 PMID: 39975237
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