Sapha Barkati and Marina Klein receive the 2023 FMSQ prize for best research paper

Their highly cited publication in the New England Journal of Medicine describes the unique clinical presentation of mpox

Marina Klein, MD, and Sapha Barkati, MD, received the 2023 Fédération des médecins spécialistes du Québec (FMSQ) prize for their research publication in The New England Journal of Medicine titled: “Monkeypox Virus Infection in Humans across 16 Countries—April–June 2022.” This award recognizes doctors who significantly contribute to advancing medical research in Quebec through the publication of a research article.

Sapha Barkati is an Assistant Professor of Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology at McGill University and an investigator in the Infectious Diseases and Immunity in Global Health (IDIGH) Program at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC). She completed a Master’s degree in Virology and was trained in infectious diseases and medical microbiology at Université de Montréal. She was subsequently trained in tropical medicine and parasitology at McGill University. Dr. Barkati is the Educational Director of the J.D. MacLean Centre for Tropical Diseases at McGill University and the director of this site within the international GeoSentinel network. Since 2018, she has become an established international faculty member of the Gorgas Diploma Course, Instituto De Medicina Tropical “Alexander Von Humboldt” at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru. She chairs the Migration and Refugee Interest Group Council of the International Society of Travel Medicine. Her main interest is the epidemiology of tropical and parasitic diseases in vulnerable individuals, migrants and immunocompromised hosts.

Marina Klein is a senior scientist in the IDIGH Program, RI-MUHC, and Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases/Chronic Viral Illnesses Service, McGill University, where she is Research Director and leads the MI4 Clinical Research Platform. She is National co-Director of the CIHR – Canadian HIV Trials Network and holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Clinical and Epidemiologic Studies of Chronic Viral Infections in Vulnerable Populations. Dr. Klein leads “Métropoles sans Hep C,” an innovative community-focused program aiming to make Montreal the first city in North America to eliminate Hepatitis C. When the mpox epidemic hit Montreal in May of 2022, alongside Dr. Barkati, she leveraged her long clinical and research experience and international connections to rapidly bring together local and international colleagues and support research aimed at understanding how to recognize, prevent and treat this emerging viral infection. The resulting collaborative publication in the New England Journal of Medicine describing the unique clinical presentation of mpox has been cited over 1,300 times to date and was recognized on November 17 by the FMSQ with a research prize.

Please join us in congratulating Drs. Marina Klein and Sapha Barkati for this award!