Stållberg, Erik Valdemar

Erik Stålberg (born in Skellefteå, Sweden April 21, 1936), physician (MD, PhD). Professor emeritus in Clinical Neurophysiology, University of Uppsala, Sweden.
He was born in northern Sweden but since the time for medical school 1955 he has been living in Uppsala. Early he became interested in research and completed his thesis in 1966 for PhD degree in Dept of Pharmacology Uppsala University with the title “Propagation velocity in Single Human muscle fibers”.
He moved directly after completing the thesis to the new Dept of Clinical Neurophysiology at the Uppsala University hospital as Docent (ass. Prof.). In 1991 he was elected Professor in clinical Neurophysiology in the same department. After retirement 2001 he has continued with some clinical work in addition to scientific projects. He has been involved in organizing and running many international courses in Clinical Neurophysiology. For clinical routines and for teaching he has worked with telemedicine implementations in Sweden and internationally,
Membership of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts: Corresponding member since 1997.
The main body of Stålberg´s scientific work has concerned muscle physiology. During the PhD work focus was on fatigue. To this end, methods for detailed assessment of muscle function were required. Together with Dr Ekstedt the method for single fiber EMG (SFEMG) was developed. This was then introduced in clinical work and has been successfully adopted world wide as the most sensitive method for diagnosis of disturbed neuromuscular transmission, seen e.g. in myasthenia gravis. Also other methods were developed for the study of the microphysiology of the motor unit. These have helped to understand various pathophysiological processes in patients, and have to some degree also been implemented for early diagnosis of nerve-muscle disorders. For further understanding of the relationship between the bioelectrical signals and their generators, the muscle fibers, various analogue, electrical or digital simulations have been made over the years. These models have helped to better interpret the recorded signals, but have also been very useful in teaching. The first visiting fellow to learn SFEMG in Uppsala (1967) was Dr J Trontelj, now member of President of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Some relevant works:

Stålberg E. Propagation velocity in single human muscle fibers. Acta Physiol Scand 1966; suppl 287: 1-112.
Stålberg E, Trontelj JV. Single Fibre Electromyography. 1979; 1st: 1-244.
Stålberg E, Fawcett PR. Macro EMG in healthy subjects of different ages. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1982; 45: 870-878.
Stålberg E, Dioszeghy P. Scanning EMG in normal muscle and in neuromuscular disorders. eeg 1991; 81: 403-416.
Sanders DB, Stålberg E. Single-fiber electromyography. Muscle Nerve 1996; 19: 1069-1083.
Trontelj JV, Stålberg E. Jitter measurement by axonal stimulation. Guidelines and technical notes. eeg 1992; 85: 30-37.
Punga A, Sawada M, Stålberg E. Electrophysiological signs and the prevalence of adverse effects of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors in patients with myasthenia gravis. Muscle Nerve 2007; 37: 300-307.
Kouyoumdjian JA, Stålberg E. Concentric needle single fiber electromyography: comparative jitter on voluntary-activated and stimulated Extensor Digitorum Communis. Clin Neurophysiol 2008; 119: 1614-1618.
Nandedkar SD, Barkhaus PE, Stålberg E. Motor unit number index (MUNIX): principle, method, and findings in healthy subjects and in patients with motor neuron disease. Muscle Nerve 2010; 42: 798-807.

Membership in other Academies and associations:
Swedish Association for Clinical Neurophysiology
Deutsche EEG-Gesellschaft since 1977
AAEE (AAEM, AANEM) since 1978 On the Board of Directors of AAEE 1987-1989
EMG Commissions of the IFSCN. 1986-1989
Corresponding member of ANA since 1988.
Australian Neurological Association since 1990
Canadian Soc of Clin Neurophysiologists since 1990
Royal Academy of Sciences (full member) 1992
Honorary member of The British Society for Clinical Neurophysiology since 1995
Honorary member of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Klinische Neurophysiologie, 1995
President of European Chapter of IFCN 1997-2005.
FRCP ( Fellow of Royal College of Physicians) 1997
Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Art (corresponding member) 1997
Check Med Ass (Purkinje), 1999
Honorary President of La Sociedad Espanola de Neurofisiología Clínical 2005
Honorary member of IFCN 2010

Awards:
1994, AAEM Distinguished Researcher Award
1994, University of Umeå, Mångberg´s award
1994, Swedish Medical Association, Thureus award
1996, Swedish Medical Association, David Ingvar´s award
1999, AAEM Lifetime Achievement Award
2008, Robert Schwab award, American Soc Clin Neurophysiology

(December 2010)