Dr. Rod Russell is a Professor of Virology and Immunology within the Division of BioMedical Sciences, and Vice Dean of Research and Graduate Studies in the Faculty of Medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN). He obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Biochemistry and a Master’s Degree in Medicine studying HIV under the supervision of Dr. Michael Grant at MUN, and then did a PhD at McGill University with Drs. Mark Wainberg and Chen Liang in the field of HIV research. Dr. Russell carried out Postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health (USA) under the supervision of Drs. Suzanne Emerson and Robert Purcell where he switched his research focus to the hepatitis C virus. In 2008, he returned to MUN to establish a research program that now covers fundamental virology, viral immunology and viral pathogenesis, as well as antiviral drug discovery and development. His team’s research has been funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research to study virus-induced cell death and inflammasome activation, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to develop novel virus imaging techniques. He is the President of the Canadian Society for Virology and a member of the Canadian Network on Hepatitis C. Dr. Russell sits on Editorial Boards for Pathogens & Immunity, Frontiers in Immunology, Frontiers in Microbiology, and Viruses, and he is the Editor-in-Chief of Viral Immunology. He was twice awarded the MUNMed Silver Orator teaching award and he delivered over 150 media pieces via online, radio and television during the COVID-19 pandemic.