Speakers

 

 

Opening:

João Barretto Bittar

João studied chemical engineering at the University of Campinas in Brazil and obtained his Master’s degree in Computational Neuroscience from the University of Tübingen, Germany. In January 2025, he joined the University of Maastricht as a PhD candidate in a multidisciplinary project supported by CIN. 
In this project, he aims to develop end-to-end Bayesian models for reconstructing and analyzing brain-muscle networks from non-invasive sensor data, with the goal of investigating how neural interactions in the neuromuscular system change across the lifespan and how these interactions are reorganized in movement disorders.

 

 

Speaker1:

Dr. Ghislaine van Mastrigt - Assistant Professor in  CAPHRI - Creating Value-Based Health Care

Ghislaine van Mastrigt is an accomplished assistant professor at the Department of Health Services Research at Maastricht University, with over 24 years of experience in Health Technology Assessment (HTA). She has co-authored three Cochrane systematic reviews and published over 50 peer-reviewed papers and 15 research reports. Her work has been widely recognized, with nominations for awards such as best poster presentations at ISPOR (2012 and 2019) and ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS (2017). Her teaching extends to postgraduate courses on HTA, including EAN-CoCoCare and clinical epidemiology. She has also been involved in various research projects and successfully secured funding from prestigious organizations like NWO and ZonMw. Since September 2023, she has served as a member of the Board of Examiners of the Faculty of Health at Maastricht University, with a particular focus on integrating Artificial Intelligence into health services education.

Abstract:
Health economic evaluations are essential in epilepsy because lifelong care, heterogeneous treatment responses, and rapid innovation create substantial costs and trade-offs. 
Using rigorous, evidence-based methods, they compare the value of medicines, surgery, neuromodulation, diagnostics, and service models to identify which options deliver the most health per euro. Findings inform reimbursement and clinical guidelines, supporting equitable access. Taking a societal perspective, they capture costs and effects beyond healthcare, informal care, productivity losses, and education, often missed in trials. With healthcare budgets constrained, robust economic evidence helps policymakers prioritize effective, patient-centered, and sustainable epilepsy care across the life course.

 

Speaker2:

Dr. Danny Hilkman - Clinical Neurophysiologist at Maastricht University Medical Centre and the Academic Centre for Epileptology (ACE)

Clinical neurophysiology is a subspecialty of neurology that applies electrophysiological methods to assess and monitor the functional integrity of the central and peripheral nervous system.

Abstract:
Resective surgery in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy, aims for seizure freedom while preserving neurological function. Candidates undergo an extensive multidisciplinary presurgical evaluation, in which clinical neurophysiology is central to identifying the epileptogenic zone and eloquent cortex that must be preserved. A concise, non-exhaustive overview of presurgical and intraoperative mapping and monitoring techniques in the clinical setting will be presented.

 

Speaker3:

Dr. E.C.W. (Ilse) van Straaten – Clinical Neurophysiologist at ACE Kempenhaeghe, distinguished research associate at Eindhoven Technical University, Maastricht University and Amsterdam UMC

Abstract:
For resective surgery and minimally invasive therapy in drug-resistant epilepsy, a multitude of information from various sources is used to identify brain tissue that is crucial for seizure generation or propagation. Optimal assessment and integration of these data sources is important for chances of success of the intervention but at the same time this remains challenging given the diversity of the data. In this presentation, a project aimed at this problem will be presented.