Decoding the Pandemic

It is with a feeling of great satisfaction that I present my new book, “Decoding the Pandemic,” written with Seyed Ehtesham Hasnain, Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. COVID-19 has been a watershed event and has changed the world in ways that will manifest in due course of time. I found it indeed imperative that this phenomenon is understood in the company of a biologist and thus came up with this book.

When I met him in 2005, Prof. Hasnain was well-known as the first director of Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) and had recently taken over as the Vice Chancellor of University of Hyderabad. I assisted him in starting an MBA program in Healthcare and Hospital Management in the School of Management Studies. 

Born in Gaya, Patna in 1954, Prof. Hasnain is a microbiologist whose main research interest lies in the field of molecular infection biology. He did his Ph.D. at JNU (1980) and was awarded the Padma Shri in 2006 and Honorary Doctorate by Queen’s University, UK, in 2011. Prof. Hasnain is a Robert Koch fellow and won the Grand Cross 1st class, the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2014.

In some 250-odd pages, staying above the trivia and conspiracy theories, the book takes a long view at COVID-19. A must-read for anyone who believes in the benevolence of nature and the power of science to protect humanity from any long-term harm, this book delivers a message of hope and confidence. It also celebrates the scientists and introduces them to the readers as warriors of life!