Samira Mubareka

Mubareka was born to Kathy Elizabeth Cannon and Aboud Mubareka.[1] Her father was born in Iraq and attended the University of Baghdad and University of Göttingen.[1] Her mother attended the University of Mainz.[1] Mubareka herself was an undergraduate student at the University of New Brunswick. She eventually studied medicine at Dalhousie University, which she graduated in 1999.[2] She specialised in internal medicine at McGill University, before moving to the University of Manitoba to train in infectious diseases.[2] After completing her registrar training, Mubareka moved to Mount Sinai Hospital.[3]

Mubareka is a Clinical Scientist at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto and on the faculty at the University of Toronto.[2] Her research considers the development of mammalian model to describe the transmission of respiratory disease and the influenza virus.[4] She is interested in the co-pathogenesis of Staphylococcus aureus and its role in influenza virus transmission.[5] She looks to apply her understanding of viral transmission to the development of protective strategies.[6] By analysing data from a five-year period in Toronto, Mubareka identified that the virus struggles to survive in more humid environments.[7]

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mubareka worked with Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre to better inform the public about the disease.[8] She created a series of videos that described the biology and symptoms of the novel coronavirus, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome COronaVirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In mid February 2020 Mubareka was awarded a research grant from the McLaughlin Centre to identify the genome sequence of SARS-CoV-2.[9][10][11] Genomic data can help to better diagnose coronavirus disease, including how much of the virus is shed by people who are infected.[10] Mubareka established the Toronto 2019-nCoV Working Group with Allison McGeer and Robert Kozak.[10] 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, the first hospital in Canada to treat coronavirus 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.[12][13][14][15] The isolated virus can be used to ensure tests work effectively, as well as being used to analyse the suitability of antiviral drugs.

Mubareka helped the World Health Organization to write guidelines on the clinical management of severe acute respiratory infection with an expectant diagnosis of coronavirus disease.[16] The guidelines include close monitoring, the provision of oxygen therapy and the determination of chronic therapies and co-infections.[16]