Meet Dr Happi. With $100m and a steely determination could he save the world from the next pandemic?

"Winning the world's health lottery is a lonely business in the current climate. It's like being an orphan in a space where there used to be many kids playing suddenly everybody's gone and you're just there with a ball, says Dr Christian Happi. The Cameroonian distinguished professor of molecular biology and genomics has just won $100m for his work at a time when global health funding is being viciously slashed as part of wider aid cuts."

"Their project, Sentinel, is an early warning framework co-created by Nigeria's Institute of Genomics and Global Health and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Housed inside the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID), the programme uses genomics, surveillance and sequencing technology to identify new pathogens and then packages the science so it is ready-made for governments to act on."

Christian Happi and Pardis Sabeti lead Sentinel, a genomics-driven early warning network that detects new pathogens and packages actionable science for governments. The initiative has identified and helped stem outbreaks including yellow fever in Nigeria, mpox in Sierra Leone and Marburg virus in Rwanda. The project is co-created by Nigeria's Institute of Genomics and Global Health and the Broad Institute, and is housed at the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID). Sentinel aims to stop future pandemics while empowering African scientists and addressing inequities as global health funding declines.

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