Dr. Samira Mubareka is a Clinician-Scientist, Medical Microbiologist and Infectious Disease consultant at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and an Associate Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on infectious diseases, with a specific interest in viral zoonoses (diseases transmissible between species, including humans and other animals) and its themes within viral transmission.
Initially, the Mubareka lab focused on respiratory virus transmission and bioaerosols. Dr. Mubareka has been involved in research on modeling particle velocities from coughs to characterize polluting particulates-virus interactions and determine microbial contaminants of medical air systems. Additional work in the clinical setting includes the characterization of bioaerosol production during purported aerosol-generating procedures, including bronchoscopy and non-invasive positive-pressure ventilation.
Her team then developed a project focused exploring viral transmission at the human-animal interface using a collaborative, multisectoral One Health approach which considers the intersections between all animal species, including humans, and the environment they share. In close collaboration with animal health colleagues at the University of Guelph and the National Centre for Animal Diseases (NCFAD) over the past four years, Dr. Mubareka has focused on pathogen emergence, incorporating with genomics for characterization of influenza virus bioaerosols generated by swine in agriculture.
While pursuing research priorities, preparedness was also a central activity for Dr. Mubareka. Working with federal, provincial and regional agencies and institutions, Dr. Mubareka co-led the development of a simulation exercise intended to be based at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. However, when the first case of SARS-CoV-2 was admitted, it was no longer an exercise.