Nicolas Deconinck

Nicolas Deconinck is a paediatric neurologist and General Medical Director of the Paediatric Neurology Clinic at Queen Fabiola Children’s University Hospital (QFCUH) in Brussels, Belgium. He is also a professor and clinical studies coordinator at Ghent University in Belgium. Professor Deconinck studied medicine from 1987 to 1994 at the University Hospital Saint-Luc in Brussels, graduating with an MD with distinction. He was awarded a PhD from Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL (VUB) in Brussels in in 2003. During his career, Professor Deconinck has contributed to the development of expertise in diagnostics in neuromuscular disorders (NMDs), and in the multidisciplinary follow-up of children with NMDs, and their families; he has also been instrumental in implementing innovative treatments in this field. His research has contributed to the improvement of physiological and therapeutic knowledge about NMDs, in particular Duchenne muscular dystrophy, congenital muscular dystrophy, and spinal amyotrophy. The emphasis in both his clinical and scientific work is on investigating the links between neurology and genetics, in order to simplify the diagnostic maze experienced by patients with rare diseases and to provide them with appropriate treatment as early as possible. Professor Deconinck ishas recently edited and published a currently working on arecent book on the management of the paediatric NMDs.