Team

Dr. Kristel Boelaert is the Central Advisory Doctor at the medical policy unit of Kind en Gezin (Child and Family). After her education and experience as a general practitioner, she followed a master’s programme youth health care. For about ten years, she was employed as consultant doctor in Kind en Gezin. Since 2013, she is employed at the medical policy unit of Kind en Gezin where she is responsible for the neonatal hearing screening.

Mieke De Bock is physiotherapist at the CAR (centre for ambulatory rehabilitation) Sint-Lievenspoort. She is responsible for motor assessment and therapy in young children (0 – 3 years) and president of the infant team Sint-Lievenspoort.

Alexandra De Kegel is paramedic head of the department at the MFC Sint-Lievenspoort. In October 2012, she defended her doctoral thesis entitled ‘Influence of vestibular dysfunction on the motor development in children with a hearing impairment’. She wrote several scientific papers concerning balance tests and motor development in hearing-impaired children. Until 2014, she was employed at the department of Rehabilitation Sciences in the Ghent University as postdoc researcher and in the Ghent University Hospital as scientific employee for which she employed her experience to implement pediatric motor assessment in clinical practice.

Pieter Bolle is vice-president at VLOK-CI vzw (Vlaamse Ouders van Kinderen met Cochleaire Implant), an association by and for parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing. This association organizes informal activities and family days to bring parents, hearing-impaired children and their siblings together. Additionally, informative activities are organized to inform the members about the latest trends and evolutions about hearing loss and cochlear implants. Several times a year, a newsletter is released and lobbying is done to represent the interests of all members. Within the association, Pieter Bolle is mainly responsible for publishing the newsletters and following scientific research and technical evolutions.

Lieve Nuytinck is valorisation advisor at Bimetra (Clinical Research Centre UZ Ghent). She is responsible for the support of the utilisation strategy of this project.

Cleo Dhondt is a PhD student in Audiology at the department of Head and Skin at the Ghent University. Her doctoral research focuses on the assessment of vestibular and motor function in children with a congenital cytomegalovirus infection. Under supervision of Prof. Dhooge and Prof. Maes, she assisted with the implementation of pediatric vestibular examination in the clinical practice of the ENT department and the Ghent University Hospital.