Profile photo Kees Braun

Kees Braun

Full Professor

Strategic program(s):

Biography

Kees Braun obtained his Medical Degree at Utrecht University in January 1992. He specialized in Neurology (registered in 2000) and Paediatric Neurology (registered in 2002) in the UMC Utrecht. In 2000 he obtained his PhD degree on a thesis entitled “Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in Hydrocephalus. He was appointed as staff neurologist in 2000 and paediatric neurologist in 2002. Since 2011 he is head of Paediatric Neurology/Neurosurgery.  In May 2012 he was appointed as a full professor of Paediatric Neurology.

His clinical and scientific areas of expertise are: refractory paediatric epilepsy, epilepsy surgery,  imaging in epilepsy, and childhood arteriopathic stroke, in particular moyamoya treatment.

He coordinates epilepsy research in the  UMCU Brain center. The epilepsy research projects he is personally involved in  focus on the effects of focal epilepsy on the brain in animal models and patients (structural and functional integrity and network analysis); seizure- and cognitive outcome after paediatric epilepsy surgery; postoperative antiepileptic drug withdrawal; ESES treatment; stress and epilepsy; and epileptic focus detection in surgical candidates.

Kees Braun currently is president of the Dutch Society of Paediatric Neurology and of the organizing committee of the 2016 world congress of child neurology (ICNC) in Amsterdam. He is member of the European Task Force for Epilepsy Surgery in Children (U-Task), the European Network for Epilepsy Research (ENER), and work-package leader of the EU-funded E-PILEPSY project.

Research line

Refractory epilepsy

Most recent key publications

1: Boshuisen K, Arzimanoglou A, Cross JH, Uiterwaal CS, Polster T, van Nieuwenhuizen O, Braun KP; for the TimeToStop study Group. Timing of antiepileptic drug withdrawal and long-term seizure outcome after paediatric epilepsy surgery (TimeToStop): a retrospective observational study. Lancet Neurol 2012:11:784-791
2: Van Campen JS, Jansen FE, Pet MA, Otte WM, Hillegers MH, Joels M, Braun KP. Relation between stress-precipitated seizures and the stress response in childhood epilepsy. Brain 2015;138:2234-2248
3: Lamberink HJ, Boshuisen K, van Rijen PC, Gosselaar PH, Braun KP. Changing profiles of pediatric epilepsy surgery candidates over time: a nationwide single-center experience from 1990 to 2011. Epilepsia 215;56:717-725
4: Boshuisen K, van Schooneveld MM, Uiterwaal CS, Cross JH, Harrison S, Polster T, Daehn M, Djimjadi S, Yalnizoglu D, Turanli G, Sassen R, Hoppe C, Kuczaty S, Barba C, Kahane P, Schubert-Bast S, Reuner G, Bast T, Strobl K, Mayer H, de Saint-Martin A, Seegmuller C, Laurent A, Arzimanoglou A, Braun KP, for the TimeToStop cognitive outcome study group. Intelligence quotient improves after antiepileptic drug withdrawal following pediatric epilepsy surgery. Ann Neurol 2015;78:104-114
5: Braun KPJ, Bulder MMM, Chabrier S, Kirkham FJ, Uiterwaal CSP, Tardieu M, Sebire G. Longitudinal vascular imaging in 79 children with ischemic stroke and unilateral intracranial arteriopathy. Brain 2009;132:544-557

Strategic program(s):

Contact

Research groups

Personalized prediction, treatment and genetics in epilepsy

Research aim

We develop personalized methods for diagnosing, treating, and predicting outcome in epilepsy. Our aim is to better control seizures, treat comorbidities, and improve quality of life with a precision medicine approach in all people with epilepsy.

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Recent publications

Pediatric epilepsy surgery Georgia Ramantani, Martha Feucht, Dorottya Cserpan, Javier Aparicio, Alexis Arzimanoglou, Fabrice Bartolomei, William Bingaman, Kees P J Braun, Richard J Burman, Dezhi Cao, Roberto Caraballo, Mathilde Chipaux-Raffo, Thomas Cloppenborg, J Helen Cross, Arthur Cukiert, Cristine Mella Cukiert, Daniel J Curry, Luca De Palma, Petia Dimova, Christin Eltze, Dario J Englot, Johannes M Nico Enslin, Aria Fallah, Stefano Francione, Deepak Gill, Tove Hallböök, A Simon Harvey, Hans Holthausen, Sita Jayalakshmi, Yuwu Jiang, Lakshminarayanan Kannan, Matt Lallas, Sandeep Bhagwan Patil, María Ángeles Pérez-Jiménez, Juan Carlos Pérez-Poveda, Tom Pieper, Sabine Rona, Victoria San Antonio-Arce, Jay Shetty, Mary Lou Smith, Piradee Suwanpakdee, Oana Tarta Arsene, Laura Tassi, Martin Tisdall, Manjari Tripathi, Ahsan Moosa Naduvil Valappil, Howard Weiner, Elaine Wirrell, Lixin Cai, Sarah Ferrand-Sorbets,
Epilepsia, 2026, vol. 67, p.4470-4482
Pediatric epilepsy surgery Georgia Ramantani, J Helen Cross, Dorottya Cserpan, Emtnan Ahemad, Javier Aparicio, Alexis Arzimanoglou, Carmen Barba, William Bingaman, Kees Braun, Richard J Burman, James Butler, Lixin Cai, Dezhi Cao, Roberto Caraballo, Mathilde Chipaux-Raffo, Thomas Cloppenborg, Arthur Cukiert, Cristine Mella Cukiert, Sameer Dal, Dario Englot, Noelle Enright, Aria Fallah, Sarah Ferrand Sorbets, Martha Feucht, Deepak Gill, Laura Guio Mahecha, Aris Hadjinicolaou, Tove Hallböök, A Simon Harvey, Hans Holthausen, Yuwu Jiang, Lakshminarayanan Kannan, Kalman A Katlowitz, Katarzyna Kotulska-Jóźwiak, Martin Kudr, Matt Lallas, Ahsan Moosa Naduvil Valappil, Sandeep Bhagwan Patil, Tom Pieper, Nicola Specchio, Manjari Tripathi, Lejla Vendegh, Howard Weiner, Jo Wilmshurst, Mary Lou Smith, Elaine Wirrell,
Epilepsia, 2026, vol. 67, p.4008-4024
Incorporation bias in clinical prediction models for epilepsy Sem L. Kampman, Rosalie L. Neijzen, Kees P.J. Braun, Sandra M.A. van der Salm, Willem M. Otte
Epilepsia Open, 2026, vol. 11, p.1061-1062
Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Monogenic Developmental and Epileptic Encephalopathies Crista A. Minderhoud, Eva H. Brilstra, Floor E. Jansen, Kees P.J. Braun, Peter M. van Hasselt
Pediatric Neurology, 2026, vol. 178, p.138-146
Monogenic no more M. Martijn Piet, Kees P.J. Braun, Bobby P.C. Koeleman, Remi Stevelink
Trends in Genetics, 2026, vol. 42, p.402-409
Continuous outcome estimation in N-of-1 trials for accelerated decision-making Victoria Defelippe, František Bartoš, Eric-Jan Wagenmakers, Kees P J Braun, Floor E Jansen, Willem M Otte
Epilepsia, 2026, vol. 67, p.2254-2269

Fellowships & Awards

1: Recipient of the first “Patrick Hanlo Award”, March 17 2009
2: Personal investment grant for epilepsy research by the Dutch National Epilepsy Fund
3: Recipient of the “Gerlach Cerfontaine Fellowship” of the Catharijne Foundation, UMCU, 1998-2000, for the PhD project “Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in Hydrocephalus”
4: Recipient of several research grants from e.g. the Dutch Epilepsy Fund, Johanna Children’s Fund, and Wilhelmina Research Fund.

External positions

No external positions -