Kristl Vonck is Professor in Neurology at Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium. Her medical training was carried out at Ghent University and her PhD thesis was entitled ‘Neurostimulation for refractory epilepsy, clinical efficacy and mechanism of action’. She has held international training positions at Guy’s Hospital, London, UK; Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA and the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Her research interests include neurostimulation and neurophysiological homemonitoring of neurological disorders. In the translational research setting of the Laboratory for Clinical and Experimental Neurophysiology, Neurobiology and Neuropsychology her team investigates the mechanism of action, efficacy and side effects of several neurostimulation modalities. Both in animals and patients, crucial questions are investigated for the application of neurostimulation as a valuable treatment option for neurological disorders: stimulation parameters, open and closed loop neurostimulation applications, seizure detection and prediction algorithms, invasive versus non-invasive neurostimulation. Proof-of-concecpt and early innovative techniques for neurological monitoring@home are validated at the excellence Center for Neurofysiological Monitoring of Ghent University Hospital before being investigated in a home environment. Kristl Vonck has published widely in international peer-reviewed journals (>150 abstracts and >100 papers), has authored five book chapters and has given 120 international presentations.