Five Years of SPARCC: Transformative Growth in Teaching, Learning and Research

From the August 18, 2023 issue of the Transformational Times - SPARCC and AIM focus

Five Years of SPARCC: Transformative Growth in Teaching, Learning and Research  

 

 Kristina Kaljo, PhD 

 

Dr. Kaljo reviews some of the surprises and accomplishments of the Student-centered Pipeline to Advance Research in Cancer Careers (SPARCC), a program designed to prepare underrepresented minority students to pursue medicine and biomedical research, and ultimately, pursue careers in clinical cancer research ...

 

Every five years, something unexpected yet pivotal occurs along my professional trajectory, sending me in a direction I could have never imagined. In June 2019, the Student-centered Pipeline to Advance Research in Cancer Careers (SPARCC) program came to fruition. 

 

Now five years later, 71 undergraduate students have graduated from SPARCC. These students, widely known as SPARCC Scholars, have advanced to outstanding opportunities: professional roles, national research fellowships and graduate degree programs. Funded by the National Cancer Institute (NIH/NCI R25 CA 221715), SPARCC was designed to recruit and immerse scholars who identify with groups historically marginalized in medicine and biomedical research to pursue careers in clinical cancer research.  

 

Alongside Janet Rader, MD FACOG, the Jack A. & Elaine D. Klieger Professor and Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and a robust SPARCC faculty of committed clinicians, researchers and professional staff, SPARCC provided a unique eight-week summer experience for scholars to receive individualized research mentoring, engage in daily workshops and participate in clinical practicum rotations. At the end of these eight rigorous weeks, each scholar presented a research poster and celebrated their accomplishments alongside family, friends and a tremendous network of mentors.  

2023 MCW SPARCC scholars

As I reflect on the past five years, I have had the unbelievable opportunity to learn from and these 71 outstanding Scholars, some of whom are now at the Medical College of Wisconsin in a multitude of professional roles and as first-, second- and third-year medical students. I embrace my time with these scholars because of their fresh perspectives and wealth of knowledge, encouraging my continuous growth as an educator. 

Congratulations to this year’s class of SPARCC scholars! 

I look forward to what the next five years will bring and how the 71 individuals who have been SPARCC scholars will continue to be drivers of change. 

 

 

 

For further reading: 

 

Kaljo, K., Ngui, E. M., Treat, R., & Rader, J. S. (2023). Student-centered pipeline to advance research in cancer careers (SPARCC): diversifying the clinical cancer research workforce.  Journal of Cancer Education, 38(1), 370-377.  

 

Kristina Kaljo, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at MCW. She serves as SPARCC Co-Director, Director of KINETIC3 Teaching Academy and part of the Faculty Pillar of the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Institute for the Transformation of Medical Education.