Biography - Assoc Prof Nelleke Langerak

Assoc Prof Neleke G. Langerak has an Honorary position at the Neuroscience Institute, based at the Division of Neurosurgery, University of Cape Town. She is a qualified Human Movement Scientist (MSc) and Physiotherapist (Bsc), and has a PhD-degree in Biomedical Engineering. The combination of these qualifications shows her comprehensive expertise and love for interdisciplinary research. She has a special interest in the lives of people with childhood-onset neuromuscular disabilities. Especially longitudinal studies with a holistic approach characterizes her work. Her primary research is in the field of long-term follow-up studies after Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy, a neurosurgical procedure, in children with spastic diplegic Cerebral Palsy. In line with this, she also focuses on long-term outcomes of orthopaedic interventions in this population and transition problems. Another area of interest is the status of children with HIV encephalopathy and spastic diplegia. Dr Langerak aims to bridge the gap between basic and applied sciences.