Liesbeth De Waele is a child neurologist with certification in rehabilitation medicine working as Deputy Head of Clinics in the Department of Paediatric Neurology in the University Hospitals Leuven in Belgium. She has an academic position at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven) as Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, Department of Development and Regeneration.
Prof. De Waele is Head of the Neuromuscular Reference Center (NMRC) for children at UZ Leuven. Since more than 10 years she is involved in the clinical care for patients with neuromuscular disorders, and she participated as PI and Sub-I in multiple international clinical trials (natural history and therapy development) in Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy (LGMD).
Her main research interests include translational research in neuromuscular disorders, neurocognition and behavioral aspects and brain imaging in DMD, evaluation of novel therapies for neuromuscular disorders, and registries in neuromuscular disorders.
Prof. De Waele is trained in Medicine at the KU Leuven and obtained a PhD degree in the field of gene therapy for bleeding disorders. She completed her training in paediatrics and child neurology at the University Hospitals Leuven, with a clinical and research fellowship at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (UK), focusing on neuromuscular disorders.
