Calculating Outbreaks Early Through Advanced Surveillance

Effective outbreak response begins long before a vaccine or therapeutic enters manufacturing; it relies on early detection of emerging pathogens and continuous surveillance during quiet periods. In this episode of Outsourcing Against the Outbreak, Dr. Al Ozonoff, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Senior Director of Pandemic Preparedness at the Broad Institute, discusses how biostatistics and mathematical modeling power global disease surveillance. The conversation explores the Sentinel program, an international early-warning framework co-led with Nigeria's Institute of Genomics and Global Health, and how its genomic surveillance model was tested during the 2025 Mpox outbreak in Sierra Leone. Dr. Ozonoff details the logistical and governance realities of expanding surveillance capabilities across Africa, why biopharma developers must engage local partners prior to a crisis, and how transferring technology and source code to national institutions creates long-term, sustainable public health infrastructure.