Dirk De Ridder (neurosurgeon)

De Ridder was born and raised in Ghent, Belgium, in an academic family, with both his parents being University professors. As a child, he spent almost a year in Rwanda during primary school as well as a medical trainee later, and a year in the USA in high school.

De Ridder obtained his MD at the University of Gent, Belgium in 1992 and PhD (A Darwinian neurosurgical approach to tinnitus) at the University of Antwerp in Belgium. He lived and worked for a year in South Africa, after which he worked for 12 years at the University Hospital Antwerpen in Antwerp, Belgium. He has lived in New Zealand since 2013 with his two sons.

De Ridder has published over 250 scientific articles, more than 30 scientific book chapters and several articles for a wider audience. His main research topic is the understanding and treatment of phantom perceptions such as pain[2] and tinnitus,[3][4] as well as addiction, using non-invasive neuromodulation (TMS, tDCS, tACS, tRNS, tPNS, neurofeedback) and especially invasive neuromodulation techniques such as brain implants. The focus of his research is to understand the common mechanisms of different diseases such as pain, tinnitus, Parkinson’s Disease, depression and slow wave epilepsy, a group of diseases known as ‘thalamocortical dysrhythmias’.[5] His research also focuses on addiction, obsessive compulsive disorder, impulsive and personality disorders, an entity called ‘reward deficiency syndromes’. He has developed “burst” stimulation, novel stimulation design for brain and spine implants,[6] which is commercialised by Abbott as burst-DR. He is currently working on other stimulation designs such as noise stimulation and reconditioning stimulation. The philosophy of these stimulation designs is related to Antoni Gaudi’s adage of mimicking nature, i.e. by mimicking natural firing and oscillation patterns in the nervous system.

Dirk De Ridder is recognised as the world-leading expert in tinnitus.[7] He is a strong proponent of interdisciplinary and translational neuroscience. He translates basic neuroscience into novel brain surgery techniques with clinical applications via small pilot studies looking at feasibility and initial clinical results. His interdisciplinary approach is exemplified by the fact that he has published with more than 40 different research groups worldwide. For example, his translational work includes:

• investigating microvascular decompression for abducens spasm, as well as for hemilingual spasm;
• investigating brain implants for tinnitus, on primary and secondary auditory cortex, frontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex and amygdalohippocampal area;[8]
• investigating vagal nerve stimulation for tinnitus;
• investigating somatosensory cortex implants for deafferentation pain;
• investigating C2 implant for tinnitus, as well as for failed back surgery syndrome;
• investigating out of body experience with PET scan in a person in whom the out of body experience could be elicited by activation of a brain implant;[9]
• investigating burst stimulation clinically on auditory cortex, on spinal cord and peripheral nerve (C2 nerve)[6]
• investigating dACC implants for alcohol addiction and OCD.