Rate My Professor Lisa Mailleux

Lisa Mailleux is a postdoctoral assistant in the Research Group for Neurorehabilitation (eNRGy) at KU Leuven's Department of Rehabilitation Sciences. She earned a Master’s degree in Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy in 2011, specializing in paediatric rehabilitation. Following her master’s, she worked for two years as a paediatric physiotherapist at University Hospitals Leuven. She completed her PhD in December 2017, investigating the relationship between brain lesion characteristics and upper limb function in children with unilateral cerebral palsy. After her doctorate, she balanced research with a clinical position at the Centre for Developmental Disabilities in Leuven. Since November 2021, she has been appointed full-time at the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, co-supervising several PhD projects and teaching courses including Neurorehabilitation in Children and Neurological Aspects of Rehabilitation in Children.

Her research focuses on pediatrics, cerebral palsy, infants at risk for neurodevelopmental disorders, neurodevelopment, and upper limb function. As co-promotor, she contributes to projects such as Neurological factors challenging bimanual motor control and learning in children with unilateral cerebral palsy (2024-2028), Unravelling the relation between executive functions and upper limb function in children with unilateral cerebral palsy (2023-2026), Understanding somatosensory deficits and the potential of targeted therapy to improve upper limb function in children with unilateral cerebral palsy (2021-2027), and Visual impairment in children with unilateral cerebral palsy (2021-2025). Key publications include Crotti et al., Seeing the Unseen: The Neurodevelopmental Factors Related to Visual Impairments in Children With Unilateral Cerebral Palsy (Pediatric Neurology, 2026); Kleeren et al., Unraveling tactile and proprioceptive upper limb function in children with unilateral cerebral palsy (Disability and Rehabilitation, 2026); De Luca et al., A Holistic Approach Towards Evaluating Upper Limb Function in Children with Unilateral Cerebral Palsy (Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2025); and Kalkantzi et al., Neurological Determinants of Everyday Executive Functioning in children with Unilateral Cerebral Palsy (2025). Her contributions advance rehabilitation strategies for paediatric neurodevelopmental disorders.