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Atlanta VAHCS SPARK Research Program

By Gregory Kendall, Public Affairs Specialist

The Atlanta VA Health Care System Summer Program for Advancing Research Knowledge (SPARK) is a ten-week paid research summer experience exposing students to VA research.

Students will work one-on-one with a VA physician or lab-based researcher, conduct research in a working lab or clinic setting, network with students from various Atlanta universities, and attend lectures from a variety of research specialists in the VA.  

 

SPARK will run from Tuesday, May 27, 2025, to Friday, August 1, 2025, with a mandatory orientation day included. 

 

Eligibility:

  • Be a U.S. Citizen
  • Meet NIH's Underrepresented Minority Criteria -NIH URM Criteria.pdf (ucdavis.edu)
  • Must be a student in good academic standing from the following Universities: Emory University; Morehouse School of Medicine; Georgia State University; Georgia Institute of Technology
  • Must be a Medical School Student, a Graduate Student in a STEM Program, and/or a Nursing Graduate Student
  • Research experience.

 

The application is open now and will close on December 8th, 2024. For more information and application instructions, visit the program website here .  Feel free to contact Dr. Ashley Scales ashley.scales@va.gov  with any questions.