Dr. Banafshe (Benita) Hosseini is a Research Scientist at the Upstream Lab, MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, and an Assistant Professor at the Department of Family and Community Medicine and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on respiratory health and pandemic preparedness. Her research explores the use of adaptive platform trials to evaluate treatments for respiratory infections, the development of diagnostic tools to improve early detection and monitoring, and the application of the One Health approach to address the interconnected challenges across human, animal, and ecosystem health. Benita’s research also examines the effects of climate-related factors, including air pollution, wildfire smoke, and extreme weather events, on respiratory health outcomes such as asthma exacerbations and acute respiratory infections. She is actively developing predictive models that integrate environmental data to predict disease flare-ups, hospitalization risks, and healthcare system burdens. These models aim to provide actionable insights for early intervention, resource allocation, and policy development to mitigate the health impacts of climate change, particularly on vulnerable populations. She is also committed to advancing health equity by studying the role of social determinants of health (SDoH) at both individual and neighborhood levels. Her work investigates how factors such as income, housing conditions, and access to care contribute to health inequities.