About SPARK

The Stanford SPARK program was established in 2006 to advance academic biomedical research discoveries into promising new treatments for patients.

SPARK bridges the gap between discovery and drug treatment through a unique partnership between university and industry experts.

With a modest support of $50K/year per project and comprehensive weekly coaching by over 100 volunteer experts from industry, SPARK has achieved unprecedented success in translating early academic discoveries to solutions addressing unmet needs. Moreover, the program has educated hundreds of faculty members, postdocs and students on the translational process. The majority of SPARK projects address the neglected areas of child and maternal health, global health, and orphan diseases. Moreover, the SPARK model has been adopted now in over 60 academic institutions throughout the world (in over 20 countries on six continents).

To learn more about the SPARK method click here.

 
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Thank you for your interest in SPARK. Like you, we strongly believe that academia has an important role to play in the discovery of new therapeutics and diagnostics and in decreasing the time and costs of development.
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