Our Team

Quique Bassat Orellana is the Director General of the Barcelona Institute of Global Health (ISGlobal) since January 2024. He leads a team of nearly 600 people committed to improving global health and promoting health equity through excellence in research and the translation and application of knowledge.

He is also ICREA Research Professor, and former Head of the Malaria and Neglected Parasitic Diseases Programme. As a pediatrician with special interest in infectious disease epidemiology and public health, Dr. Bassat has attempted to combine his clinical work with biomedical research in those diseases that most affect the poor and vulnerable.

His main area of interest has been the prevention and treatment of malaria in childhood, with a particular focus on understanding the clinical overlap of malaria and other common pediatric conditions. His research has also covered the new paradigm of malaria eradication, with a particular interest in evaluating the role of drugs in elimination strategies.

He has also conducted work on the description of the epidemiology and etiology of respiratory infections (viral and bacterial), diarrheal diseases, and neonatal infections in places such as Mozambique, Morocco or Bhutan. He has also studied Yaws, a neglected tropical skin disease, advancing on the science of its potential eradication.

Currently, his main interests are related to the validation and implementation of Minimally Invasive Autopsy (MIA) tools for the post-mortem investigation of causes of death in the developing world. He is also very interested in the validation and evaluation of technological devices for global health purposes.

Lines of research

•  Clinical development of treatment and prevention tools for Malaria 
•  Elimination strategies for malaria and other infections
•  Differential diagnosis of malaria and other common pediatric infections
•  Diagnosis, prevention and treatment of respiratory, neurological and systemic infections affecting the neonate, young infant and child
•  Mortality surveillance and cause of death ascertainment in low-income settings
•  Validation and testing of innovative technologies for global health applied to low-income settings

Main publications

• Lazarus, J. V., Romero D, Kopka CJ, Abdool Karim s, Abu Raddad LJ, Almeida G et al. A multinational Delphi consensus to end the COVID-19 public health threat. Nature (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05398-2
• Madrid L, Casellas A, Sacoor C, Quintó L, Sitoe A, Varo R, Acácio S, Nhampossa T, Massora S, Sigaúque B, Mandomando I, Cousens S, Menéndez C, Alonso P, Macete E, Bassat Q. Postdischarge Mortality Prediction in Sub-Saharan Africa. Pediatrics. 2018 Dec 14. pii: e20180606. doi: 10.1542/peds.2018-0606.doi: 10.1542/peds.2018-0606
• Gargano N, Madrid L, Valentini G, D'Alessandro U, Halidou T, Sirima S, Tshefu A, Mtoro A, Gesase S; Eurartesim Dispersible Study Group, Bassat Q. Efficacy and Tolerability Outcomes of a Phase II, Randomized, Open-Label, Multicenter Study of a New Water-Dispersible Pediatric Formulation of Dihydroartemisinin-Piperaquine for the Treatment of Uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum Malaria in African Infants. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2017 Dec 21;62(1). doi: 10.1128/AAC.00596-17
• Bassat Q, Castillo P, Martínez MJ, Jordao D, Lovane L, Hurtado JC, Nhampossa T, Santos Ritchie P, Bandeira S, Sambo C, Chicamba V, Ismail MR, Carrilho C, Lorenzoni C, Fernandes F, Cisteró P, Mayor A, Cossa A, Mandomando I, Navarro M, Casas I, Vila J, Munguambe K, Maixenchs M, Sanz A, Quintó L, Macete E, Alonso P, Menéndez C, Ordi J. Validity of a minimally invasive autopsy tool for cause of death determination in pediatric deaths in Mozambique: An observational study. PLoS Med. 2017 Jun 20;14(6):e1002317. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002317. 
• Valim C, Ahmad R, Lanaspa M, Tan Y, Acácio S, Gillette MA, Almendinger KD, Milner DA Jr, Madrid L, Pellé K, Harezlak J, Silterra J, Alonso PL, Carr SA, Mesirov JP, Wirth DF, Wiegand RC, Bassat Q. Responses to Bacteria, Virus and Malaria Distinguish the Etiology of Pediatric Clinical Pneumonia. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2015 Oct 15. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201506-1100OC
• Siqueira AM, Lacerda MV, Magalhães BM, Mourão MP, Melo GC, Alexandre MA, Alecrim MG, Kochar D, Kochar S, Kochar A, Nayak K, Del Portillo H, Guinovart C, Alonso P, Bassat Q. Characterization of Plasmodium vivax-associated admissions to reference hospitals in Brazil and India. BMC Med. 2015 Mar 20;13(1):57. doi: 10.1186/s12916-015-0302-y
• Mitjà O, Houinei W, Moses P, Kapa A, Paru R, Hays R, Lukehaart S, Godornes C, Bieb SV, Grice T, Siba P, Mabey D, Sanz S, Alonso PL, Asiedu K, Bassat Q. Mass Treatment with Single-Dose Azithromycin for Yaws. N Engl J Med. 2015 Feb 19;372(8):703-710. doi: 10.1056/NEJMc1503442.