Author: Martina Nacach Cowan Ros

Martina Nacach Cowan Ros

Leaders of a groundbreaking pandemic prevention project say a $100 million grant will greatly expand their work to curb disease outbreaks.

“The event that doesn’t exist – that is the proof our system is working,” said Dolo Nosamiefan, project manager for Sentinel, a collaboration between the Cambridge-based Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and the Institute of Genomics and Global Health (IGH) in Nigeria. Sentinel is co-directed by the Broad Institute’s Pardis C. Sabeti and IGH cofounder Christian T. Happi.

The Sentinel project in November won the MacArthur Foundation’s 100&Change award, gaining $100 million paid over five years. Sentinel aims to help countries like Nigeria and Sierra Leone prevent infectious disease outbreaks in low-resource areas by empowering communities and implementing surveillance frameworks for detection. Adding local capacity and know-how in these regions adds to the impact, and in particular responding more rapidly to disease incidents.

“We’re treating very local problems, but these problems can have global impacts … A lot of these diseases, if you don’t handle it quickly enough or in the right places, they have the potential to grow into a pandemic,” said Nosamiefan.

Al Ozonoff, director of pandemic preparedness at the Broad Institute, was Sentinel’s director of U.S. operations when it started in 2020 and will now become the managing director in phase two of the program, which begins next year. This second phase, funded by the MacArthur award, will help the project deepen its networks in Nigeria and Sierra Leone and expand into other countries in West and Central Africa.

“The origins of Sentinel came from a deep, deep commitment to empower local communities that are most affected by outbreaks,” Ozonoff said, “so that they have the tools, the training and the technology that’s needed to provide their own response, rather than depending on others.”

The Sentinel system aims to help countries like Nigeria and Sierra Leone prevent infectious disease outbreaks in low-resource areas by empowering communities and implementing surveillance frameworks for detection.

The project uses a hub-and-spoke model. Each country that uses Sentinel has a single hub for high-level analysis, including genome sequencing of samples. Various spokes extend throughout the countries to perform rapid testing and send samples to the hub. These tests can help inform leaders where and how quickly a virus has spread. Right now, Nigeria has four spokes and Sierra Leone has three spokes. The next phase will introduce more spokes into these areas to help them become more prepared for outbreaks.

“We’ve chosen some of these locations based on previous trends that we’ve observed in these countries,” said Nosamiefan. “However, emerging diseases don’t follow previous trends. We want to be better positioned in these countries to more effectively catch everything.”

Colby Wilkason, program manager for Sentinel at the Broad Institute, said the project also works to develop new technologies to expand surveillance efficiency while ensuring these technologies work well with their country partners’ labs.

“We create the technologies here, but then we also work very carefully and closely with our partners to make sure the technologies actually work in the country as well,” she said. “We are there to support our country partners, because that’s where the meat of the work is happening.”

This is the third time the 100&Change award has been given out, with its inaugural round in 2017, and its second in 2021. The competition is open to organizations anywhere in the world and within any field, as long as proposals must identify a “real and measurable” solution to a current issue.

Chris Cardona, managing director, discovery, exploration and programs at the MacArthur Foundation, said the 18-month selection process started in May 2024 with 869 valid applications. In April 2025 MacArthur chose five finalists that included a range of projects offering solutions to urgent problems like corruption, misinformation, education and global health, Cardona said.

“The quality of the applications was really, really high,” he said. “It was a difficult choice for the board. All of them are worthy and would use the funds well.”

Sentinel will receive the award in installments throughout the five years and report its progress annually.

Ozonoff said winning the grant was the “biggest thing” he has done in his career and felt deep gratitude with the recognition. “We care deeply about the work,” he said. “We think that it’s important. It meant the world to us to be acknowledged in this way. We’re always thinking about how much good this can do in the communities where we work…  The whole point of this is to make a real difference.”

This story is part of a partnership between Cambridge Day and the Boston University Department of Journalism.

Martina Nacach Cowan Ros

Prapti Sekhon and Diego Lasso are two of the many regulars at Simon’s Coffee Shop. They meet there every other day, trading stories, life updates and advice over a small table and a few cups of coffee.

Lasso, 67, known as the “mayor” of Simon’s, travels from Roxbury to Simon’s every day to read the newspaper – yet he rarely gets to it, interrupted by conversations with other customers. Sekhon, 31, intentionally signed a lease on an apartment based on its proximity to the coffee shop.

Simon’s and the community around it have become part of their routine.
Yet a new development project could displace Simon’s and the other businesses at 1740 Massachusetts Ave., which include Keezer’s & Le Couturier House of Alterations and a Walgreens. Developers plan to demolish the one-story building there next summer or fall and spend 18 to 20 months constructing a six-story, 71-unit mixed-use building.

Simon’s Coffee Shop was founded in 2002 by Simon Yu, who bought a former coffee house, renamed it and focused on building a comfortable place offering quality products and giving people a good start to their day, he said. Soon, this small coffee shop, with its orange and yellow walls and chalkboard menu, became a community hotspot.

Sekhon said the community she found at Simon’s changed her life. When she moved to Cambridge, she said, she was isolated and trapped in an abusive relationship. She credits the people at Simon’s for helping her get through it. “I couldn’t have survived … and this Simon’s community came together to literally help me,” she said, teary-eyed.

Sekhon said people from Simon’s invited her to meals when she could not afford them, walked her dog when she was going through a spinal injury, took her to appointments, and offered an ear when she needed to talk. The group of around 15 people was the first set of friends she made after she moved to Cambridge during the 2020 pandemic.

“It was life-changing for me. And here I am, like, a year-and-a-half later, and my life has changed,” she said. When her old apartment lease ended, she found a place as close as possible to Simon’s, and today she lives only three minutes away. She said it was “heartbreaking” to hear the news of the possible temporary closure and displacement.

Sekhon first met Lasso after she brought her golden retriever, Jelly, to the coffee shop in 2023, and he asked to pet the dog. She said Lasso, who has been coming to the coffee shop since 2012, is the group’s stable presence.

“If Simon’s is open, Diego is there,” Lasso said, referring to himself. “There is something about the friendliness of the staff, the friendliness of Simon himself, the way the place is designed that leads [people] to want to come here and to return.”

When he is not reading the newspaper, Lasso said, he talks with other regulars.

“We come to have conversations about other things, about the little things,” he said.

“It’s inevitable that I have to relocate or close, for the time being, until this project is done. I don’t know what’s gonna happen, so I don’t want to speculate [about] anything yet. — Simon Yu, owner, Simon’s Coffee Shop.

Yu said his favorite part of having owned the space for 23 years is seeing previous regulars, who graduated from college or left Cambridge, come back years later to reminisce.

“It’s so joyful to watch people come back five years later with kids, with [their] couples … to remember,” he said. “I’m glad to offer the space and ambience for those people who come to enjoy their time, meet new people and share new ideas.”

He said he was informed of the new development in October, and plans to stay open until the building is demolished. Yu said he was offered a spot in the new development, but he is considering relocating because of the prospect of keeping his shop closed for nearly two years.

“It’s inevitable that I have to relocate or close, for the time being, until this project is done,” he said. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen, so I don’t want to speculate [about] anything yet.”

Adam Siegel, a principal of Old North Development and Cambridge’s SGL Development, which acquired the property, declined to speak with Cambridge Day but wrote in an email: “We are diligently working with both Simon’s Coffee Shop and Keezer’s Classic Clothing on space planning for their return to the new project.”

“The Nieman Marcus of resale”

Keezer’s Classic Clothing, founded in 1895, moved into the basement of 1738 Massachusetts Ave. after Dick Robasson bought it in 2018, when he merged Keezer’s with his own company, Le Couturier House of Alterations. The establishment sells secondhand clothing predominantly for men and offers custom tailoring.

Robasson said he does not plan to move until construction begins because moving will be costly. He hopes to find a spot in Harvard Square but assumes whatever he finds will be more expensive than what he pays now.

“We’re trying to move as late as possible,” he said.

Katiti Kironde has been going to Keezer’s since she was a Harvard undergraduate. Now retired, she has seen the store evolve under Robasson’s management, and said the store offers expert tailoring and quality high-end merchandise that is unmatched by other secondhand stores.

“Dick’s Keezer’s the Neiman Marcus of resale,” she said.

She said she was upset the store might have to move but stressed she was a “devotee” and would still go wherever the store moved to.

“It’s hard to find someone to fix stuff and fix them right,” Kironde said. “Wherever [Dick] goes, I will always follow him.”

This story is part of a partnership between Cambridge Day and the Boston University Department of Journalism.

Martina Nacach Cowan Ros

At an exhibition last week, the students of NuVu High School showed off architectural models, a prototype of a ropeless lobster trap and a three-course meal. All of these are examples of the “new view” of education this project-based school in Cambridge provides to its 27 students.

Creativity and collaboration are the main ingredients at work in NuVu, which began as Saeed Arida’s 2009 Ph.D. dissertation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s School of Architecture and Planning. Arida wanted to know whether elements of architecture design studios could meet the needs of secondary school students. He put his model into practice by establishing NuVu in Central Square in 2010.

It was not a full high school in the beginning. Students from Beaver Country Day School spent a trimester there for innovation and creativity training. After some students showed interest in remaining longer, NuVu began its transition to a four-year high school. The school graduated its first student in 2016 and earned nonprofit status last year. Tuition is $49,000 a year, and financial aid is available.

NuVu’s curriculum is built on a studio model. Every four weeks, students from different grades are placed together in classes – studios – where they work in groups on a project while receiving weekly feedback. At the end of each studio, students present their results at an exhibition.

Students typically work in their studios every day from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and afterward spend an hour on math or English project-based studios. On Fridays after 1:30 p.m., they have peer learning groups, where students teach each other different skills – including one in which they build robots that battle each other.

At Thursday’s exhibition, student teams presented PowerPoints on their projects to the audience, which consisted of faculty, parents and student peers. Afterward, guests were invited to walk around the school’s space to examine students’ projects, prototypes and ask questions. One team had designed a video game. Another had made a prototype for a ropeless lobster trap. Others presented how they had created and cooked a three-course meal based on two countries’ shared history

Jasmine Horowitz, a 16-year-old senior who has spent four years at NuVu, was part of a team that prepared architectural plans for a real client who wanted to transform a family ranch into a creative hub for individuals who had been incarcerated.

“I’ve never even thought about architecture,” Horowitz said, “so there is a really steep learning curve, but it’s super rewarding to use these programs and have such a high-quality result.”

The small classes make for a tight-knit community, where seniors and freshmen work together as peers and go to each other for feedback, Horowitz said.

Zephryos Koyanis, a junior who was one of the three students who created and built a prototype of a ropeless lobster trap, cited the easy access to technology, specialized faculty, and interaction with students from other grades as advantages of the school.

“It’s not just the coaches doing all the teaching,” he said. “Peer-to-peer learning happens all the time.”

Koyanis said the project-based method helps develop skills – like presenting, documenting work throughout the process and justifying decisions – that students will need in jobs. In his project, Koyanis said, his team created a prototype of an affordable lobster trap that is missing in the market.

“People pay you to do this stuff,” he said. “You get a ton of practical skills that look great on college applications.”

NuVu creative director Nada Elsonni, who oversees the curriculum, said different expectations for students are set depending on their grade, but collaboration is at the heart of the program. Although students have a say, most are placed in studios by faculty depending on what they sense that particular student needs.

“The very core of what we do is human-centered design, which is really understanding the user needs and designing around their needs,” she said.

Arida said the school’s biggest challenge is changing the idea people have of what school should be like. NuVu’s interdisciplinary studios incorporate technology, art, design and engineering, and students learn the math or language skills they need along the way while building their confidence and ability to take feedback.

“We do school in a completely different way … everything is kind of fused together,” Arida said. “The transformation that happens with our students is that by the end of their second, third and fourth year, they start seeking that feedback to improve their project.”

Anne Perticone and David Perticone said their son, Andrew, who is a NuVu senior, thrived thanks to the school’s engaging and reflective learning process. They said they noticed an increase in his confidence and leadership skills throughout his two and a half years at the school.

“He never found himself at school, and this place, it’s home for him,” said David Perticone.

This story is part of a partnership between Cambridge Day and the Boston University Department of Journalism.