Hôpital Universitaire Des Enfants Reine
Brussels, Belgium
Dear World Muscle Society members,
Activiely involved,as a clinican and a researcher in the field of neuromuscular disorders for many years I had the opportunity to follow the continuous progress achived in the field. The communciation of the most cutting edge research in the field of Myology and neuromuscular disorders very often happened during a plenary session or a late breaking news session of one of the WMS congresses. In addition to being a place of high quality scientific communication, WMS is also a great opportunity for sharing of knowledge and experience between passionate people (clinicians and researchers). This was certainly the case for me during the multiple WMS congresses that took place around the world over the last 25 years. The time therefore seems appropriate to me to share my experience, at the service of a scientific society like the WMS. Working collectively with highly motivated colleagues, I would like to energize the future of the society as this very special place of confrontation of clinical and scientific research in the service of knowledge of the muscle and its diseases.
Nicolas Deconinck, MD, PhD
Queen Fabiola Children’s University Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) Brussels, and Ghent University, Belgium
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. Nicolas 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 ) 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 muscle atrophy, where he authored numerous publications. 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 edited and published in 2019 a recent book on the management of the paediatric NMDs.
