Bassat Orellana, Quique – ICREA Memoir 2021

Quique Bassat

Institut de Salut Global Barcelona

Life & Medical Sciences

Quique Bassat is an ICREA Research Professor at the Barcelona Institute of Global Health (ISGlobal). He has a degree in Medicine from the Universitat de Barcelona (UB, 1999), a specialization in pediatrics (UaB, 2004), and Masters in Tropical Medicine and International Health (UB, 2004) and Epidemiology (LSHTM, 2008). He obtained his PHD in the year 2009 (UB) with work on the treatment and clinical characterization of malaria in Africa. He was based for several years at the Centro de Investigação em Saúde de Manhiça (CISM), in Mozambique, where he currently conducts most of his research, although in recent years he has started projects in other countries, including Morocco, Papua New Guinea, Brazil or Bhutan.

Research interests

As a paediatrician, my research is based on the premise that there is no greater public health intervention than that which can reduce child mortality, particularly in poor contexts. I have worked in LMICs (Mozambique, Morocco, Papua New Guinea, Brazil and Bhutan) to understand and prevent malaria, pneumonia and other infectious diseases that most impact child survival. I’m interested in biomarkers of host response as diagnostic and prognostic tools to help risk stratify children and better prioritize care. My research has included the clinical development of malaria vaccines and new or repurposed drugs and drug-based strategies for malaria and other IDs. To improve the poor existing data on the causes of child mortality. we have developed and implememted in resource constrained settings the minimally invasive autopsy (MIA) method for mortality surveillance purposes. During the pandemic, I’ve been particularly interested in studying transmission and pediatric COVID-19 disease, advising the Spanish MoH on the strategy for school reopening.

Selected publications

– Alonso, Sergio; Alvarez-Lacalle, Enric; Catala, Marti; Lopez, Daniel; Jordan, Iolanda; Garcia-Garcia, Juan Jose; Soriano-Arandes, Antoni; Lazcano, Uxue; Salles, Pilar; Masats, Marta; Urrutia, Julia; Gatell, Anna; Capdevila, Ramon; Soler-Palacin, Pere; Bassat, Quique; Prats, Clara 2021, ‘Age-dependency of the Propagation Rate of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Inside School Bubble Groups in Catalonia, Spain’, Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, 40, 11, 955 – 961.

– Caballero, Mauricio T.; Bianchi, Alejandra M.; Grigaites, Sebastian Diaz; De la Iglesia Niveyro, Paola X.; Nuno, Alejandra; Valle, Sandra; Afarian, Gabriela; Esperante, Sebastian A.; Ferretti, Adrian J. P.; Baglivo, Sofia Jares; De Luca, Julian; Alvarez-Paggi, Damian; Diamanti, Adriana; Bassat, Quique; Polack, Fernando P. 2021, ‘Community Mortality Due to Respiratory Syncytial Virus in Argentina: Population-based Surveillance Study’, Clinical Infectious Diseases, 73, S210 – S217.

– Breiman, Robert F.; Blau, Dianna M.; Mutevedzi, Portia; Akelo, Victor; Mandomando, Inacio; Ogbuanu, Ikechukwu U.; Sow, Samba O.; Madrid, Lola; El Arifeen, Shams; Garel, Mischka; Thwala, Nana Bukiwe; Onyango, Dickens; Sitoe, Antonio; Bassey, Ima-Abasi; Keita, Adama Mamby; Alemu, Addisu; Alam, Muntasir; Mahtab, Sana; Gethi, Dickson; Varo, Rosauro; Ojulong, Julius; Samura, Solomon; Mehta, Ashka; Ibrahim, Alexander M.; Rahman, Afruna; Vitorino, Pio; Baillie, Vicky L.; Agaya, Janet; Tapia, Milagritos D.; Assefa, Nega; Chowdhury, Atique Iqbal; Scott, J. Anthony G.; Gurley, Emily S.; Kotloff, Karen L.; Jambai, Amara; Bassat, Quique; Tippett-Barr, Beth A.; Madhi, Shabir A.; Whitney, Cynthia G. 2021, ‘Postmortem investigations and identification of multiple causes of child deaths: An analysis of findings from the Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) network’, Plos Medicine, 18, 9, e1003814.

Selected research activities

My research has helped me in my position as spokesperson of the spanish pediatrics association durig the pandemic.