Our Team

Alberto García-Basteiro (Vilalba, Lugo, 1982) is an Associate Research Professor at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a consultant physician in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology at Hospital Clínic of Barcelona, and Coordinator of the Tuberculosis Research Area at the Manhiça Health Research Centre (CISM) in Mozambique. He holds a degree in Medicine from the University of Santiago de Compostela, completed his specialty training in Preventive Medicine and Public Health at Hospital Clínic of Barcelona (Emili Letang End-of-Residency Award), and obtained a Master’s in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), United Kingdom. He earned a joint doctoral degree through the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development (University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands) and ISGlobal (University of Barcelona), within the EU-funded Transglobal Health Solutions programme.

Dr García-Basteiro is an associate professor at the University of Barcelona, where he teaches in the undergraduate Medicine programme and several master’s programmes. He is also a visiting professor at Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, Mozambique, where he contributes to doctoral training.

He has made innovative contributions to tuberculosis research, particularly in the fields of clinical epidemiology and novel diagnostics. He has helped quantify and characterise the disease in sub-Saharan Africa and identify risk factors in some of the world’s most impoverished areas. He has led pioneering studies on novel TB diagnostics, including the evaluation of molecular tests on unconventional samples (such as urine and stool) for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in vulnerable populations (especially children and people living with HIV). He has also conducted epidemiological studies that have advanced understanding of the natural history of tuberculosis, particularly in the earliest stages of the infection-to-disease spectrum. His research and career in this field contributed to his being awarded a prestigious Starting Grant by the European Research Council in 2023. 

He currently coordinates several multicentre studies and clinical trials focused on new diagnostic tools and vaccines for tuberculosis. With his team, based in both Mozambique and Spain, he contributes to the development of new tools with the potential to reduce TB incidence and mortality. As a result of his work, he has published more than 200 scientific articles—many in high-impact journals—and has led numerous internationally funded projects supported by institutions such as the European Commission (EDCTP programme), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Stop TB Partnership, USAID, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, among others. He has received several international awards and recognitions, including the The Union Young Investigator Prize, the Stephen Lawn TB/HIV Leadership Prize, the Early Career Prize from the European Respiratory Society, and the Akebulan Award. His career has been profiled in the prestigious journal The Lancet.

Lines of research

• Study of subclinical tuberculosis transmission in settings with high HIV prevalence.
• Evaluation of new molecular tests using non-conventional samples and biomarkers for the diagnosis of paediatric TB and TB in people co-infected with HIV.
• Evaluation of novel tuberculosis vaccines based on mRNA technology.
• Characterisation of TB burden and transmission in incarcerated populations.
• Assessment of the impact of innovative active case-finding strategies for tuberculosis in populations affected by malnutrition. 

Main publications

• García-Basteiro AL, Hurtado JC, Castillo P, Fernandes F, Navarro M, Lovane L, Casas I, Quintó L, Jordao D, Ismail MR, Lorenzoni C, Carrilho C, Sanz A, Rakislova N, Mira A, Alvarez-Martínez MJ, Cossa A, Cobelens F, Mandomando I, Vila J, Bassat Q, Menendez C, Ordi J, Martínez MJ. Unmasking the hidden tuberculosis mortality burden in a large postmortem study in Maputo Central Hospital, Mozambique. Eur Respir J, (2019) 07 25 [Epub ahead of print]
• García-Basteiro AL, Brew J, Williams B, Borgdorff M, Cobelens F, What is the true tuberculosis mortality burden? Differences in estimates by the World Health Organization and the Global Burden of Disease study. Internationa Journal of Epidemiology, (2018) 47 (5): 1549-1560.
• Beynon F, Theron G, Respeito D, Mambuque E, Saavedra B, Bulo H, Sanz S, Dheda K, García-Basteiro AL Correlation of Xpert MTB/RIF with measures to assess Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacillary burden in high HIV burden areas of Southern Africa. Scientific Reports (2018) 8(1): 5201-
• García-Basteiro AL, Ribeiro RM, Brew J, Sacoor C, Valencia S, Bulo H, Cobelens F, Macete E. Tuberculosis on the rise in southern Mozambique (1997-2012). European Respiratory Journal, (2017) 49 (3): 1601683.
• García-Basteiro AL, Cobelens F. Triage tests: A new priority A new priority in TB diagnostics. Lancet Respir Med,(2015) 3(3):177-8
• García-Basteiro AL, López-Varela E, Manhiça I, Macete E, Alonso PL. Mozambique faces challenges in the fight against tuberculosis. Lancet (2014) 383(9913):215-216.