Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | March 30, 2020 | Worcester Business Journal 3 Worcester Business Journal (ISSN#1063-6595) is published bi-weekly, 24x per year, including 4 special issues in May, September, October, and December by New England Business Media. 172 Shrewsbury St., Worcester, MA 01604. Periodicals postage paid at Worcester, MA. Copyright 2019. All rights reserved. Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Worcester Business Journal, PO Box 330, Congers, NY 10920-9894. Subscriptions: Annual subscriptions are available for $54.95. For more information, please email wbjournal@ cambeywest.com or contact our circulation department at 845-267-3008. Fax: 845.267.3478 Advertising: For advertising information, please call Mark Murray at 508-755-8004 ext. 227. Fax: 508-755-8860. Worcester Business Journal accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or materials and in general does not return them to the sender. Worcester Business Journal 172 Shrewsbury Street, Worcester, MA 01604 508-755-8004 tel. • 508-755-8860 fax www.wbjournal.com A division of: Worcester Business Journal WBJ Editor, Brad Kane, bkane@wbjournal.com News Editor, Grant Welker, gwelker@wbjournal.com (Higher education, health care) Editorial Intern Micah Wingell Contributors Susan Shalhoub, Livia Gershon, Sarah Connell Lead Researcher, Timothy Doyle, tdoyle@nebusinessmedia.com Research Assistant, Heide Martin, hmartin@nebusinessmedia.com Production Director, Kira Beaudoin, kbeaudoin@wbjournal.com Art Director, Mitchell Hayes, mhayes@wbjournal.com Senior Accounts Manager Matt Majikas, mmajikas@wbjournal.com Senior Accounts Manager Christine Juetten, cjuetten@wbjournal.com Senior Special Accounts Manager Mary Lynn Bosiak, mlbosiak@wbjournal.com Marketing & Events Manager Kris Prosser, kprosser@wbjournal.com Distribution and Database Coordinator A Guide to STUFF, a publication of New England Business Media Patty Harris, pharris@nebusinessmedia.com COO, Mary Rogers, mrogers@nebusinessmedia.com Accounting Manager, Sabrina Mondor, smondor@nebusinessmedia.com Accounting Assistant, Rae Rogers, rrogers@nebusinessmedia.com Collections Manager, Raki Zwiebel, rzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com Human Resources, Jill Coran, jcoran@nebusinessmedia.com Director of Audience Development, Valerie Clark, vclark@nebusinessmedia.com Publisher, CEO, Peter Stanton pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com Associate Publisher, Mark Murray mmurray@wbjournal.com President, Joseph Zwiebel jzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com T he impact on the Central Massachusetts economy from the effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus became very real for me on the evening of March 12. I was perusing Facebook, and Amy Lynn Chase, owner of the Crompton Collective and Haberdash stores in Worcester and Hudson wrote an update saying something along the lines of, "Just letting you know how your local retailers are doing…" and posted a photo showing her sales were down 90% from the previous year. At that point, international travel already had been largely suspended and major businesses and sports leagues were shutting down, but I didn't fully grasp how the entire local business community had turned upside down in a matter of days until Chase wrote that Facebook post. Over the last two weeks as Massa- chusetts has closed schools, issued stay- at-home advisories, and ultimately forced non-essential businesses to stop in-per- son activities, it has become abundantly clear the casualties of this effort will be the businesses and the employees in and around Central Massachusetts. Chase has a strong reputation, a unique business model and a vibrant entrepreneurial spirit, so her companies may survive; but that won't be the case for everyone. Despite this economic pain, it is all nec- essary. e vast majority of people – from Gov. Charlie Baker on down to our local business leaders – understand the serious- ness of this situation and are taking all the measures necessary to stem the impact of the coronavirus. Yes, the economic slow- down will hurt in the short term, but not taking these proactive measures will result in an extremely overwhelmed healthcare system and a massive loss of life. ose worst-case scenarios would have a much longer lasting impact on the local and global economies, even if you don't take into account the emotional toll all from all that death and disease (which you should). With Congress and President Donald Trump about to approve a $2-trillion eco- nomic relief package, our national leaders are taking this seriously, too, and provid- ing enough of a lifeline for businesses to figure out the next steps in the coming months. Now, our focus needs to remain I N T H I S I S S U E on stemming the spread of disease and making sure healthcare professionals have all the resources they need to help those infected by it. is will hurt, but we'll get through it, together. Brad Kane, editor At least we're all taking this seriously NEWS & ANALYSIS 4 The Coronavirus Pandemic 6-15 Focus on Health Care 13 The List: Top NIH grant winners in Central Mass. 18 Column: The Struggle is Real 19 Know How 20 Movers & Shakers 21 Opinion 22 Shop Talk: Robb Zargas, The CASA Project 14 Fixing UMass Memorial's financials The largest healthcare system and employer in Central Mass. hopes a new focus on fundraising will help it stop years of operating losses. 16 Razor lofts A new market-rate apartment building is taking shape in an old factory inside the investor- friendly Main Middle neighborhood. W DEPARTMENTS Nat King Cole "You must remember this, a kiss is still a kiss. " Standard Time weekdays 3:00 to 6:00 pm. The Great American Songbook and jazz standards. And great radio is still great radio. Herman Hupfield Nat King Cole "You must remember this, a kiss is still a kiss. " Standard Time weekdays 3:00 to 6:00 pm. The Great American Songbook and jazz standards. And great radio is still great radio. Herman Hupfield

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