Neurosurgery

During my PhD, I studied basal ganglia development in a mouse model of Parkinson's disease. During my neurosurgical training, I specialised in deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the basal ganglia. My research interests focus on improving the outcome of DBS surgery in established indications, such as Parkinson's disease and essential tremor, and the application of experimental DBS in new indications, such as psychiatric diseases and disorders of consciousness. Since 2009, I act(ed) as a co-investigator on clinical trials studying subthalamic nucleus versus globus pallidus DBS in Parkinson's disease, nucleus accumbens DBS in obsessive-compulsive disorder, internal capsule and medial forebrain bundle DBS in depression, internal capsule DBS in anorexia nervosa, and general anesthesia versus local anesthesie in DBS for Parkinson's disease. I initiated several research projects to improve the radiological and neurophysiological targeting of DBS surgery. Since 2017, I act as principal investigator of the RECONNECT trial, studying the effects of DBS of the central thalamus in patients with disorders of consciousness, fopr which I created a multidisciplinary national research alliance.