Samira Mubareka
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Samira Mubareka (born 1972) is a Canadian microbiologist who is a clinical scientist at the
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (SHSC), commonly known as Sunnybrook Hospital or simply Sunnybrook, is an academic health science centre located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The hospital is the largest trauma centre in Canada. It is accredite ...
in
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
,
Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
. Her research considers the influenza virus, viral transmission and aerobiology. During the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
Mubareka isolated the genome of
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the respiratory illness responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had the Novel coronavirus, provisional nam ...
in an effort to improve detection and diagnostics. She served as a member of the
Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table The Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, often referred to simply as the Ontario Science Table (OST), was a group of independent scientific experts that provided advice to the Government of Ontario about COVID-19. It consisted of several sp ...
.


Early life and education

Mubareka was born to Kathy Elizabeth Cannon and Aboud Mubareka in Göttingen, Germany. Her father was born in Iraq and attended the
University of Baghdad The University of Baghdad (UOB) (, also known as Baghdad University) is a public university, public research university in Baghdad, Iraq. It is the largest university in Iraq and the tenth largest in the Arab world. History The College of Isl ...
and
University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...
. Her mother attended the
University of Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz () is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany. It has been named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. it had approximately 32,000 students enrolled in around 100 a ...
. She and her family immigrated to northwestern
New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...
when she was two. Mubareka herself was an undergraduate student at the
University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English language, English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universiti ...
. She eventually studied medicine at
Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia, Bible Hill, and a second medical school campus ...
, which she graduated in 1999. She specialised in
internal medicine Internal medicine, also known as general medicine in Commonwealth nations, is a medical specialty for medical doctors focused on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases in adults. Its namesake stems from "treatment of diseases of ...
at
McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...
, before moving to the
University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1877, it is the first university of Western Canada. Both by total student enrolment and campus area, the University of ...
to train in infectious diseases. After completing her registrar training, Mubareka moved to Mount Sinai Hospital where she worked in the laboratory of Peter Palese.


Research and career

Mubareka is a Clinical Scientist at the
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (SHSC), commonly known as Sunnybrook Hospital or simply Sunnybrook, is an academic health science centre located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The hospital is the largest trauma centre in Canada. It is accredite ...
in
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
and on the faculty at the
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
. She works as lead of infectious diseases at the Centre for Research Expertise in Occupational Diseases, and chair of the
Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...
's Working Group on
One Health One Health is an approach calling for "the collaborative efforts of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally, and globally, to attain optimal health for people, animals and our environment", as defined by the One Health Initiative Task Fo ...
. Her research considers the development of mammalian model to describe the transmission of respiratory disease and the
influenza Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These sympto ...
virus. She is interested in the co-pathogenesis of ''
Staphylococcus aureus ''Staphylococcus aureus'' is a Gram-positive spherically shaped bacterium, a member of the Bacillota, and is a usual member of the microbiota of the body, frequently found in the upper respiratory tract and on the skin. It is often posi ...
'' and its role in influenza virus transmission. She looks to apply her understanding of viral transmission to the development of protective strategies. By analysing data from a five-year period in Toronto, Mubareka identified that the virus struggles to survive in more humid environments. Several of Mubareka's publications on viral transmission were edited by American virologist Ralph S. Baric of the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...
.


COVID-19

In the early days of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, Mubareka worked with Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre to better inform the public about the disease. She created a series of videos that described the biology and symptoms of COVID-19. In mid February 2020 Mubareka was awarded a research grant from the McLaughlin Centre to identify the genome sequence of SARS-CoV-2. Genomic data can help to better diagnose COVID-19, including how much of the virus is shed by people who are infected. Mubareka established the Toronto 2019-nCoV Working Group with Allison McGeer and Robert Kozak. On March 10, 2020, Mubareka participated in the convening of the Chief Science Advisor of Canada's COVID-19 Expert Panel. By mid March 2020, Mubareka and colleagues had successfully isolated SARS-CoV-2, providing researchers access to the genetic sequence for the development of new therapies and vaccines. The virus was isolated from patients at
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (SHSC), commonly known as Sunnybrook Hospital or simply Sunnybrook, is an academic health science centre located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The hospital is the largest trauma centre in Canada. It is accredite ...
, the first hospital in Canada to treat COVID-19 patients. She succeeded in isolating the virus by getting it to reproduce in genetically engineered animal cells, then using whole genome sequencing to deduce the genome. The isolated virus can be used to ensure tests work effectively, as well as being used to analyse the suitability of
antiviral drug Antiviral drugs are a class of medication used for treating viral infections. Most antivirals target specific viruses, while a broad-spectrum antiviral is effective against a wide range of viruses. Antiviral drugs are a class of antimicrobials ...
s. Mubareka helped the
World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...
to write guidelines on the clinical management of severe acute respiratory infection with an expectant diagnosis of COVID-19. The guidelines include close monitoring, the provision of oxygen therapy and the determination of chronic therapies and co-infections. She served as a founding member of the
Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table The Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, often referred to simply as the Ontario Science Table (OST), was a group of independent scientific experts that provided advice to the Government of Ontario about COVID-19. It consisted of several sp ...
upon its creation in July 2020 until its dissolution in September 2022.


Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mubareka, Samira 1972 births Living people Canadian women physicians Physicians from Ontario Canadian microbiologists Women microbiologists Canadian people of Iraqi descent COVID-19 researchers Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table