Three decades of Pediatric Neurology
and Developmental Neurosciences
A personal historical account
and Developmental Neurosciences
A personal historical account
After a training period in cell biology and metabolism at the UCL-
belgium under Professor Christian de Duve [http://indigo.icp.ucl.ac.be/deduve-symposium.html http://www.icp.ucl.ac.be/ICP-en.html] and Professor Pierre Baudhuin, a member of my family experienced a severe medical problem, which stimulated my clinical vocation. I wished to combine pediatrics and neuroscience. Rector Edouard Massaux, the Chief Executive Officer of the University of Louvain, and Professors Roger De Meyer (Chief of Department of Pediatrics), Albert Dereymaeker (Chief of Department of Neurosurgery), E. Christian Laterre (Chief of Department of Neurology), and Guy Stroobandt (Associate Chief of Department of Neurosurgery), my chiefs at that time, proposed me in 1969 to develop a clinical service of pediatric neurology, and a research laboratory of developmental neuropathology at the University of Louvain Medical School, in Louvain, Belgium. I benefited very much at that time from the leadership and guidance, and from additional training and collaborative programs, in Paris, in Boston, and in Louvain, with Professors Raymond D. Adams, Jacques Berthet, Verne S. Caviness Jr., Georges Cornélis, Raymond Garcin, Jean-Jacques Haxhe, Paul Jonckheere, Pierre Lacroix, Jean Lapresle, Frans Lavenne, Gilles Lyon, Michel Meulders, Jacqueline Mikol, Olivier Robain, Lucien Sorel, Stéphane Thieffry, and Paul I. Yakovlev. Ronald MacKeith had also much influence on me. The clinical service, the research laboratory, and the teaching programs I founded and developed expanded so much and so quickly that, in 1976, seven years only after my appointment, I was able to propose to Rector Massaux to transform the service in an international facility and to invite Professor Gilles Lyon, a prestigious colleague, already very senior at that time, to leave Paris and to join, as chairman, one of the largest departments of pediatric neurology existing at that time. The UCL Pediatric Neurology Center had 28 acute beds, 83 beds for rehabilitation (the Centre William Lennox, founded by Lucien Sorel), a laboratory for metabolic disorders, a laboratory of neuropathology and experimental neurobiology [ http://fester.his.path.cam.ac.uk/npsoc/membe.htlm ], a unit of pediatric neuropsychology, a rehabilitation section, and acquired later a positron emission tomography program oriented towards pediatric neurology, a program for prevention of neurological disorders in fetuses and children, and a unit for neurological aspects of child abuse. Gilles Lyon and myself had always a marvelous collaboration. In 1976, we started our partnership in Belgium with the moving in a new hospital, from Leuven (Louvain) to Brussels, the " French speaking " University of Louvain having indeed to leave the old city of Louvain, a " Flemish soil ". This " Belgian affair " has been much advertised and discussed , in Belgium and outside Belgium. The federal structure adopted at that time was the only solution for Belgium. It has probably been a great investment for the future of Belgium and of its communities, well in the tradition of the " libertés communales ". It is also an opportunity for the European Union, to have its administration based in a European " district " having strong and robust multicultural traditions who love each other, collaborate deeply, but preserve proudly their full cultural integrity. This multicultural " European District " is a nice " terreau " for the European institutions providing them a powerful vaccination against deviations which would underestimate the strength of the rich cultures and traditions of our European nations. For myself, a Walloon, the " Louvain affair " never created any problem in my relationships with the Flemish colleagues and friends; I have been engaged since three decades in many collaborative programs and deep friendships within the Flemish community at all levels (including some teaching I gave in the Flemish KUL before they started a pediatric neurology unit, and including my long collaboration as a member of commission at the Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Vlaanderen [ NFWO ], the Flemish research organization http://www.nfwo.be/folder-nl.html ). In Paris, Pierre Gressens and myself, we are now actively engaged in a European BIOMED research program about peroxisomal disorders involving also the Flemish University of Louvain (KUL) and the University of Heidelberg.
I paid elsewhere a special tribute to the immense contribution of Gilles Lyon to pediatric neurology. See the biographical sketch I wrote about him, in another section of this web page.
In Brussels and in Paris, I have been director (or codirector, according to the epochs) of the " Habilitations à diriger des Recherches [HDRs] " or of the " Agrégations de l'Enseignement Supérieur en Médecine " and/or of the appointments as " médecins des hôpitaux " or similar degrees/positions of Dr. Christine BONNIER, Dr. Anne DE VOLDER [ http://topo.topo.ucl.ac.be/labpubs.html ], Prof. Gérard FERRIERE, Dr. Jean-François GADISSEUX, Prof. Yves GILLEROT, Prof. André GOFFINET, Dr. Pierre GRESSENS, Dr. Hazim J. KADHIM, Prof. Stéphane MARRET, Prof. Jean-Paul MISSON, Dr. Marie-Cécile NASSOGNE [ http://www.md.ucl.ac.be/fac/public/commissions/doctorat_med/… ] , Dr. Christian RICHELME, Prof. Peter van den BERGH, Prof. Kenou van RIJCKEVORSEL, Dr. Anne VAN HOUT. All these colleagues (quoted in alphabetical order) reached high levels of expertise and responsabilities. The recent " HDR " of Dr. Hélène OGIER de BAULNY, " médecin des hôpitaux " since many years, was for her an overdue step, based on exceptional achievements performed well before my moving to Paris.
During the 27 years I have been director (or codirector with Gilles Lyon, according to the epochs) of the Pediatric Neurology and Developmental Neurosciences Center at UCL-Belgium, we appointed several consecutive " Board of Directors" to help us in our duties of " chiefs executive officers " of the Pediatric Neurology and Developmetal Neurosciences Center. Cited by alphabetical order, Dr. Marie-Claude BELPAIRE-DETHIOU, Dr. Christine BONNIER, Prof. Gérard FERRIERE, Dr. Jean-François GADISSEUX, Prof. François VAN HOOF, Dr. Guy WILLEMS were members of such an executive board, shared the responsability and they helped so much to develop the UCL Pediatric Neurology and Developmental Neuroscience Center.
Other colleagues were directors of programs in our center (several of them were also members of the board of directors already mentioned) ; among them, also cited by alphabetical order, Dr. Christine BONNIER (Child Abuse), Dr. Anne DE VOLDER (positron emission tomography PET), Prof. Baudouin FRANCOIS (metabolism), Prof. Gérard FERRIERE (neuromuscular unit and rehabilitation), Dr. Jean-François GADISSEUX (Developmental Neurobiology), Prof. André GOFFINET (Developmental Neurobiology and, later, also the Positron Emission Tomography Program), Dr. Pierre GRESSENS (Developmental Neurobiology), Dr. Hazim KADHIM (neuropathology), Dr. Maggy RUCQUOY-PONSAR (epilepsy), Dr. Xavier SCHLÖGEL (rehabilitation of cerebral palsy), Dr. Jorge SERRANO (pediatric neuropsychiatry), Prof. François VAN HOOF (metabolism), Dr. Anne VAN HOUT (neuropsychology), Dr. Guy WILLEMS (neuropsychology). The contributions of these directors of programs has also been crucial.
In addition to appointments of visiting professors for short periods, on our proposal, several foreign colleagues have been appointed professors in our academic staff at UCL for long periods between 1969 and 1995 : Pierre LANDRIEU, from Paris, as maître de conférences ; Josette MANCINI, from Marseilles, as maître de conférences ; Henri METZ, from Luxembourg, as professor.
I wish to cite, also in alphabetical order, other colleagues (not already cited in the previous paragraphs) who trained, for variable periods, in the clinical and research center created at the UCL-Belgium and jointly operated by Gilles LYON and by myself or by myself (according to the epochs). Many of them became later " HRDs " or " Professors " or " Médecins des Hôpitaux " or equivalent appointments in other institutions in France, in Belgium or in other countries : Miriam Alarcon, Catherine Allaire, Fernando Arita, Anne Beaugerie-Perot, Patrick Berquin, Alidor Beya-Tschimanga, Vinciane Boon, Pedro Cabral, Maria-Theresa Celle, Abla Chalabi-Benabdallah, Dominique Charlier-Mikolajcack, Roberta Cilio, Philippe Compagnon, Raul Cordoba, Catherine Coupez, Pierre Daems, Anne d'Alcantara, Luc Dejaegher, Elvio Della Giustina, Talvany De Oliveira, Lutgard Derijdt, Michèle Deschamps-Robbe, Michel Deschamps, Marc D'Hooghe, Anwar Dudin, Mohamed El Wahabi, Tahel Etzion, M. Teresa Garcia-Silva, F. Geraldo Fernandes Xavier, Thérèse Ghislain-Carpentier, Anne Gautier, Antoinette Gelot-Barnabe, Sanda Giurgea-Houben, Véronique Godding, Catherine Godfraind, Lutgarde Goossens, Serge Gosseye, Nelson Guerchon, Brigitte Henrot, Maria M. Herrero, Patricia Jetten, A. Kesman, Michel Kruth, Patrice Laloux, Pierre Landrieu, Abdelmajid Larnaout, Eric Le Galloudec, Bernard Legrand, Marianne Lemoine, Damien Lerminiaux, Joël Leroy, Francesco Lopera, Francine Lys, Maria Joaquina Marques-Dias, Lionel Mathelier, Alicia Mauro, Michèle Mayer, Elie Mbonda, Tomas Mesa Latorre, René Metz, Najoua Miladi, Kimiyo Mogami, Marc Mortier, Marleen Moonen, Françoise Morsomme, Jacques Motte , Richard Mukendi, Marc Naulaerts, Théo Ntihinyurwa, Joaquin Pena, Marcia Pradella, Gerald Raymond, Anne Renders, Jorge Rodriguez, Alfonso Romano, Victor Ruggieri, Ernesto San Julian, Emmanuel Scalais, Xavier Schlögel, Aziza Sefta-Brahim, Marteen Senepart, Mourad Souissi, Dominique Staudt-Fagnart, Alexandre Stevens, René Stevens, Kirsten Stollhoff, Jean-Marc Sussan, Lalla Tamisari, Marc Tardieu, Theresa Temudo, Frieda Thys, Chahnez Triki-Charfi, Agnès Tzerkezoglou, Louis Vallée, Marc Van Bellinghen, Rudy Van Coster, Ines Vandenbussche-Vandenbogaert, M. Vandeputte-Denayer, Edwige Veneselli, Catherine Wetzburger, Johanna Wieme-Bouten, Guy Willems, Anne Wintgens. As already mentioned, many of these colleagues reached important positions in other centers at or around UCL, or elsewhere in Belgium, or in France or in other countries. I shall pay elsewhere the tribute due to other coworkers and visitors who stayed for a while in the pediatric neurology service I created in Leuven (Louvain), which moved later in Brussels (as explained above) at the time when Gilles Lyon joined it, and in the service created at Robert-Debré in Paris on September 1st, 1995.
During the last decades, research in Belgium benefited so much from the superb leadership of Paul Levaux and Marie-José Simoen, the chiefs executive officers of the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique [FNRS] [ http://www.fnrs.be ] [ http://www.fnrs.be/Anglais/BOUFRIAA.HTM ], of the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique Médicale [FRSM] [ http://www.fnrs.be/Anglais/FRSM_programmes.htm ], and of the FRIA [Fonds pour la Recherche dans l'Industrie et dans l'Agriculture] , three important " public " research structures in Belgium. They gave me unique opportunities to participate in the planning of biomedical research in our fields of expertise ; it has been for me a great privilege and experience to serve Research under Paul Levaux and Marie-José Simoen. In Paris, Pierre Gressens and myself, we pursue collaborative programs with the FNRS organized by the INSERM (" accord de collaboration internationale INSERM/CFB ").
André Flahaut [ http://www.belgium.fgov.be/Frans/217/21713/21713214.htm ] , Pierre Huvelle, Marie-José Laloy, Danièle Lecleir, Fernand Geubelle, and Françoise Goossens are or were (several left for other responsabilities) superb leaders of the " ONE " (" Office de la Naissance et de l'Enfance ", the Belgian public institution for Mothers and Children) [ http://www.cfwb.be/autorg/pg006.htm ] [ http://www.pastel.be/ONE/rapport/action/enfmalt.htm ]. They revolutionized this derelict institution and transformed it in a tool for the future. I have been delighted to be with them in this task during the decade I served as President of the Scientific Committee of this governmental agency for Mothers and Children.
When I was Chief of Clinical Service and Director of Research Unit in Belgium, I benefited from the constant friendship and support of President Gaston Deurinck, of Professor André Molitor, of F. Valentin Nelissen, of Mrs. Albert Froehlich, of Ms. Marie-Pia Froehlich (who enjoyed the competent help of Mr. Christian de Pauw), and of the Hon. Charles Everaerts de Velp, important national figures, who supported so efficiently our research and development programs in pediatric neurology and developmental neurosciences. I wish also to acknowledge the support granted by Mr. Philippe Busquin [ http://www.ps.be/organisation/president.html ] , who was at that time the Federal Minister of Health and Social Affairs of Belgium: he approved my proposal and recognized pediatric neurology as a " Board certification ", a " subspecialty " (in French, we use the term " surspécialité ", which is more elegant) given in addition to the main board certification in Pediatrics or in Neurology, and enjoying an official status with positive consequences for practice of pediatrics in our field. I had also a staff of superb administrative assistants, created by Mrs. Jo Serneels, who worked with me during 28 years, and later Mrs. Patricia Debluts, Mrs. Caty Defat, Mrs. Chantal Vynckier, and Françoise Barras. Contributions of Ms. Anne-Marie Rona as technician-in-chief and as " chief of staff " for the financial support of research has been quite remarkable, as her contributions to modern art.
belgium under Professor Christian de Duve [http://indigo.icp.ucl.ac.be/deduve-symposium.html http://www.icp.ucl.ac.be/ICP-en.html] and Professor Pierre Baudhuin, a member of my family experienced a severe medical problem, which stimulated my clinical vocation. I wished to combine pediatrics and neuroscience. Rector Edouard Massaux, the Chief Executive Officer of the University of Louvain, and Professors Roger De Meyer (Chief of Department of Pediatrics), Albert Dereymaeker (Chief of Department of Neurosurgery), E. Christian Laterre (Chief of Department of Neurology), and Guy Stroobandt (Associate Chief of Department of Neurosurgery), my chiefs at that time, proposed me in 1969 to develop a clinical service of pediatric neurology, and a research laboratory of developmental neuropathology at the University of Louvain Medical School, in Louvain, Belgium. I benefited very much at that time from the leadership and guidance, and from additional training and collaborative programs, in Paris, in Boston, and in Louvain, with Professors Raymond D. Adams, Jacques Berthet, Verne S. Caviness Jr., Georges Cornélis, Raymond Garcin, Jean-Jacques Haxhe, Paul Jonckheere, Pierre Lacroix, Jean Lapresle, Frans Lavenne, Gilles Lyon, Michel Meulders, Jacqueline Mikol, Olivier Robain, Lucien Sorel, Stéphane Thieffry, and Paul I. Yakovlev. Ronald MacKeith had also much influence on me. The clinical service, the research laboratory, and the teaching programs I founded and developed expanded so much and so quickly that, in 1976, seven years only after my appointment, I was able to propose to Rector Massaux to transform the service in an international facility and to invite Professor Gilles Lyon, a prestigious colleague, already very senior at that time, to leave Paris and to join, as chairman, one of the largest departments of pediatric neurology existing at that time. The UCL Pediatric Neurology Center had 28 acute beds, 83 beds for rehabilitation (the Centre William Lennox, founded by Lucien Sorel), a laboratory for metabolic disorders, a laboratory of neuropathology and experimental neurobiology [ http://fester.his.path.cam.ac.uk/npsoc/membe.htlm ], a unit of pediatric neuropsychology, a rehabilitation section, and acquired later a positron emission tomography program oriented towards pediatric neurology, a program for prevention of neurological disorders in fetuses and children, and a unit for neurological aspects of child abuse. Gilles Lyon and myself had always a marvelous collaboration. In 1976, we started our partnership in Belgium with the moving in a new hospital, from Leuven (Louvain) to Brussels, the " French speaking " University of Louvain having indeed to leave the old city of Louvain, a " Flemish soil ". This " Belgian affair " has been much advertised and discussed , in Belgium and outside Belgium. The federal structure adopted at that time was the only solution for Belgium. It has probably been a great investment for the future of Belgium and of its communities, well in the tradition of the " libertés communales ". It is also an opportunity for the European Union, to have its administration based in a European " district " having strong and robust multicultural traditions who love each other, collaborate deeply, but preserve proudly their full cultural integrity. This multicultural " European District " is a nice " terreau " for the European institutions providing them a powerful vaccination against deviations which would underestimate the strength of the rich cultures and traditions of our European nations. For myself, a Walloon, the " Louvain affair " never created any problem in my relationships with the Flemish colleagues and friends; I have been engaged since three decades in many collaborative programs and deep friendships within the Flemish community at all levels (including some teaching I gave in the Flemish KUL before they started a pediatric neurology unit, and including my long collaboration as a member of commission at the Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Vlaanderen [ NFWO ], the Flemish research organization http://www.nfwo.be/folder-nl.html ). In Paris, Pierre Gressens and myself, we are now actively engaged in a European BIOMED research program about peroxisomal disorders involving also the Flemish University of Louvain (KUL) and the University of Heidelberg.
I paid elsewhere a special tribute to the immense contribution of Gilles Lyon to pediatric neurology. See the biographical sketch I wrote about him, in another section of this web page.
In Brussels and in Paris, I have been director (or codirector, according to the epochs) of the " Habilitations à diriger des Recherches [HDRs] " or of the " Agrégations de l'Enseignement Supérieur en Médecine " and/or of the appointments as " médecins des hôpitaux " or similar degrees/positions of Dr. Christine BONNIER, Dr. Anne DE VOLDER [ http://topo.topo.ucl.ac.be/labpubs.html ], Prof. Gérard FERRIERE, Dr. Jean-François GADISSEUX, Prof. Yves GILLEROT, Prof. André GOFFINET, Dr. Pierre GRESSENS, Dr. Hazim J. KADHIM, Prof. Stéphane MARRET, Prof. Jean-Paul MISSON, Dr. Marie-Cécile NASSOGNE [ http://www.md.ucl.ac.be/fac/public/commissions/doctorat_med/… ] , Dr. Christian RICHELME, Prof. Peter van den BERGH, Prof. Kenou van RIJCKEVORSEL, Dr. Anne VAN HOUT. All these colleagues (quoted in alphabetical order) reached high levels of expertise and responsabilities. The recent " HDR " of Dr. Hélène OGIER de BAULNY, " médecin des hôpitaux " since many years, was for her an overdue step, based on exceptional achievements performed well before my moving to Paris.
During the 27 years I have been director (or codirector with Gilles Lyon, according to the epochs) of the Pediatric Neurology and Developmental Neurosciences Center at UCL-Belgium, we appointed several consecutive " Board of Directors" to help us in our duties of " chiefs executive officers " of the Pediatric Neurology and Developmetal Neurosciences Center. Cited by alphabetical order, Dr. Marie-Claude BELPAIRE-DETHIOU, Dr. Christine BONNIER, Prof. Gérard FERRIERE, Dr. Jean-François GADISSEUX, Prof. François VAN HOOF, Dr. Guy WILLEMS were members of such an executive board, shared the responsability and they helped so much to develop the UCL Pediatric Neurology and Developmental Neuroscience Center.
Other colleagues were directors of programs in our center (several of them were also members of the board of directors already mentioned) ; among them, also cited by alphabetical order, Dr. Christine BONNIER (Child Abuse), Dr. Anne DE VOLDER (positron emission tomography PET), Prof. Baudouin FRANCOIS (metabolism), Prof. Gérard FERRIERE (neuromuscular unit and rehabilitation), Dr. Jean-François GADISSEUX (Developmental Neurobiology), Prof. André GOFFINET (Developmental Neurobiology and, later, also the Positron Emission Tomography Program), Dr. Pierre GRESSENS (Developmental Neurobiology), Dr. Hazim KADHIM (neuropathology), Dr. Maggy RUCQUOY-PONSAR (epilepsy), Dr. Xavier SCHLÖGEL (rehabilitation of cerebral palsy), Dr. Jorge SERRANO (pediatric neuropsychiatry), Prof. François VAN HOOF (metabolism), Dr. Anne VAN HOUT (neuropsychology), Dr. Guy WILLEMS (neuropsychology). The contributions of these directors of programs has also been crucial.
In addition to appointments of visiting professors for short periods, on our proposal, several foreign colleagues have been appointed professors in our academic staff at UCL for long periods between 1969 and 1995 : Pierre LANDRIEU, from Paris, as maître de conférences ; Josette MANCINI, from Marseilles, as maître de conférences ; Henri METZ, from Luxembourg, as professor.
I wish to cite, also in alphabetical order, other colleagues (not already cited in the previous paragraphs) who trained, for variable periods, in the clinical and research center created at the UCL-Belgium and jointly operated by Gilles LYON and by myself or by myself (according to the epochs). Many of them became later " HRDs " or " Professors " or " Médecins des Hôpitaux " or equivalent appointments in other institutions in France, in Belgium or in other countries : Miriam Alarcon, Catherine Allaire, Fernando Arita, Anne Beaugerie-Perot, Patrick Berquin, Alidor Beya-Tschimanga, Vinciane Boon, Pedro Cabral, Maria-Theresa Celle, Abla Chalabi-Benabdallah, Dominique Charlier-Mikolajcack, Roberta Cilio, Philippe Compagnon, Raul Cordoba, Catherine Coupez, Pierre Daems, Anne d'Alcantara, Luc Dejaegher, Elvio Della Giustina, Talvany De Oliveira, Lutgard Derijdt, Michèle Deschamps-Robbe, Michel Deschamps, Marc D'Hooghe, Anwar Dudin, Mohamed El Wahabi, Tahel Etzion, M. Teresa Garcia-Silva, F. Geraldo Fernandes Xavier, Thérèse Ghislain-Carpentier, Anne Gautier, Antoinette Gelot-Barnabe, Sanda Giurgea-Houben, Véronique Godding, Catherine Godfraind, Lutgarde Goossens, Serge Gosseye, Nelson Guerchon, Brigitte Henrot, Maria M. Herrero, Patricia Jetten, A. Kesman, Michel Kruth, Patrice Laloux, Pierre Landrieu, Abdelmajid Larnaout, Eric Le Galloudec, Bernard Legrand, Marianne Lemoine, Damien Lerminiaux, Joël Leroy, Francesco Lopera, Francine Lys, Maria Joaquina Marques-Dias, Lionel Mathelier, Alicia Mauro, Michèle Mayer, Elie Mbonda, Tomas Mesa Latorre, René Metz, Najoua Miladi, Kimiyo Mogami, Marc Mortier, Marleen Moonen, Françoise Morsomme, Jacques Motte , Richard Mukendi, Marc Naulaerts, Théo Ntihinyurwa, Joaquin Pena, Marcia Pradella, Gerald Raymond, Anne Renders, Jorge Rodriguez, Alfonso Romano, Victor Ruggieri, Ernesto San Julian, Emmanuel Scalais, Xavier Schlögel, Aziza Sefta-Brahim, Marteen Senepart, Mourad Souissi, Dominique Staudt-Fagnart, Alexandre Stevens, René Stevens, Kirsten Stollhoff, Jean-Marc Sussan, Lalla Tamisari, Marc Tardieu, Theresa Temudo, Frieda Thys, Chahnez Triki-Charfi, Agnès Tzerkezoglou, Louis Vallée, Marc Van Bellinghen, Rudy Van Coster, Ines Vandenbussche-Vandenbogaert, M. Vandeputte-Denayer, Edwige Veneselli, Catherine Wetzburger, Johanna Wieme-Bouten, Guy Willems, Anne Wintgens. As already mentioned, many of these colleagues reached important positions in other centers at or around UCL, or elsewhere in Belgium, or in France or in other countries. I shall pay elsewhere the tribute due to other coworkers and visitors who stayed for a while in the pediatric neurology service I created in Leuven (Louvain), which moved later in Brussels (as explained above) at the time when Gilles Lyon joined it, and in the service created at Robert-Debré in Paris on September 1st, 1995.
During the last decades, research in Belgium benefited so much from the superb leadership of Paul Levaux and Marie-José Simoen, the chiefs executive officers of the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique [FNRS] [ http://www.fnrs.be ] [ http://www.fnrs.be/Anglais/BOUFRIAA.HTM ], of the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique Médicale [FRSM] [ http://www.fnrs.be/Anglais/FRSM_programmes.htm ], and of the FRIA [Fonds pour la Recherche dans l'Industrie et dans l'Agriculture] , three important " public " research structures in Belgium. They gave me unique opportunities to participate in the planning of biomedical research in our fields of expertise ; it has been for me a great privilege and experience to serve Research under Paul Levaux and Marie-José Simoen. In Paris, Pierre Gressens and myself, we pursue collaborative programs with the FNRS organized by the INSERM (" accord de collaboration internationale INSERM/CFB ").
André Flahaut [ http://www.belgium.fgov.be/Frans/217/21713/21713214.htm ] , Pierre Huvelle, Marie-José Laloy, Danièle Lecleir, Fernand Geubelle, and Françoise Goossens are or were (several left for other responsabilities) superb leaders of the " ONE " (" Office de la Naissance et de l'Enfance ", the Belgian public institution for Mothers and Children) [ http://www.cfwb.be/autorg/pg006.htm ] [ http://www.pastel.be/ONE/rapport/action/enfmalt.htm ]. They revolutionized this derelict institution and transformed it in a tool for the future. I have been delighted to be with them in this task during the decade I served as President of the Scientific Committee of this governmental agency for Mothers and Children.
When I was Chief of Clinical Service and Director of Research Unit in Belgium, I benefited from the constant friendship and support of President Gaston Deurinck, of Professor André Molitor, of F. Valentin Nelissen, of Mrs. Albert Froehlich, of Ms. Marie-Pia Froehlich (who enjoyed the competent help of Mr. Christian de Pauw), and of the Hon. Charles Everaerts de Velp, important national figures, who supported so efficiently our research and development programs in pediatric neurology and developmental neurosciences. I wish also to acknowledge the support granted by Mr. Philippe Busquin [ http://www.ps.be/organisation/president.html ] , who was at that time the Federal Minister of Health and Social Affairs of Belgium: he approved my proposal and recognized pediatric neurology as a " Board certification ", a " subspecialty " (in French, we use the term " surspécialité ", which is more elegant) given in addition to the main board certification in Pediatrics or in Neurology, and enjoying an official status with positive consequences for practice of pediatrics in our field. I had also a staff of superb administrative assistants, created by Mrs. Jo Serneels, who worked with me during 28 years, and later Mrs. Patricia Debluts, Mrs. Caty Defat, Mrs. Chantal Vynckier, and Françoise Barras. Contributions of Ms. Anne-Marie Rona as technician-in-chief and as " chief of staff " for the financial support of research has been quite remarkable, as her contributions to modern art.
©2001 Ph. Evrard
