Research - Our Team

Cesc Bertran Cobo is a Project Manager and Health Data Scientist at ISGlobal, working within the Department of Tropical Medicine & International Health at Hospital Clínic Barcelona. Their work combines infectious disease epidemiology, clinical research, quantitative analysis, and coordination across imported and emerging infections, traveller & migrant health, and vaccine safety.
 
At ISGlobal, Cesc coordinates multidisciplinary research across the full study lifecycle, including protocol development, implementation, data governance, statistical analysis, reporting, and dissemination. They develop reproducible analytical workflows in R and translate complex clinical and epidemiological data into decision-ready evidence for research and public health stakeholders.
 
In parallel, Cesc is affiliated with the University of Cape Town, in South Africa, where they investigate how perinatal HIV exposure and maternal & child immune development shape the brain and neurodevelopmental outcomes in children. They also contribute to postgraduate HIV teaching at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, in the UK.  

Lines of research

• Infectious diseases
• Maternal and child health
• HIV
• Malaria
• Dengue
• Fever in the returned child traveller

Main publications

• Camprubí-Ferrer D, Bertran-Cobo C, Valerio L, et al. Safety of the Dengue Vaccine TAK-003 and Factors Associated with Adverse Events in Travellers from Non-Endemic Areas: A Real-World Prospective Multicentre Pharmacovigilance Cohort Study in Spain. Lancet Reg Health Eur (2026) 10:611. doi: 10.1016/j.lanepe.2026.101727.
• Bertran-Cobo C, Robertson FC, Kangwa, TS, et al. Maternal and child immune profiles are associated with neurometabolite measures of early-life neuroinflammation in children who are HIV-exposed and uninfected: a South African birth cohort. Wellcome Open Res (2025) 10:611. doi: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.24911.1.
• Bertran-Cobo C, Dumont E, Noordin NR, et al. Plasmodium knowlesi Infection Is Associated With Elevated Circulating Biomarkers of Brain Injury and Endothelial Activation. J Infect Dis (2025) 231(5):e966-e975. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiae553. 
• Fombah AE, Chen H, Owusu-Kyei K, et al. Coverage of intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in infants after four years of implementation in Sierra Leone. Malar J (2023) 22(1):145. doi: 10.1186/s12936-023-04575-6.
• Wedderburn CJ, Weldon E, Bertran-Cobo C, et al. Early neurodevelopment of HIV-exposed uninfected children in the era of antiretroviral therapy: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Child Adolesc Health (2022) 6(6):393-408. doi: 10.1016/S2352-4642(22)00071-2.