From Hamburgers to COVID

From Hamburgers to COVID is a memoir which traces Dr. Vikram Misra’s path from his childhood in Saskatoon—where his father pursued graduate studies on prairie grasshoppers—to his own career as a virologist. Blending personal anecdotes with scientific discovery, Misra reflects on the mentors, students, and colleagues who shaped his work, as well as the serendipitous turns that guided his research interests. His story moves from an early interest in microbiology through pioneering studies on herpesviruses and cancer, and ultimately into the world of bat-borne viruses, where questions of ecology, stress, and disease spillover converge.
The narrative culminates with the COVID-19 pandemic, which reframed much of Misra’s career-long interest in virus–host relationships. Drawing on decades of laboratory work, he recounts how his team adapted tools for tracking coronaviruses in animals and anticipated the dangers of viral spillover into new species. Alongside this scientific arc runs a more personal one—memories of family, mentors, cultural identity—giving the book a humanity often missing from scientific accounts.