maina is originally from nguru, yobe state, nigeria. he attended federal government college buni yadi in yobe state for his secondary school. he completed his bachelor of science in human anatomy at the university of maiduguri, nigeria, in 2007. after working at the federal neuropsychiatric hospital maiduguri and gombe state university, he moved to the uk in 2011 to pursue a master of science in cellular and molecular neuroscience at the university of sussex. he went on to do a phd at sussex university in the lab of louise serpell, for which he received the chancellor’s international research scholarship. his phd research was focussed on the role of nuclear tau in alzheimer’s disease. he completed his phd in 2017 and is now a postdoctoral research fellow at the university of sussex. he became a fellow of the royal society of arts in 2018.