SPARK Program Begins its First Year

This summer, approximately 12 students (medical students, undergraduate students and high school students) from Detroit and its suburbs worked alongside clinical and research faculty from Wayne State University School of Medicine (WSUSOM) to explore infection prevention and antibiotic stewardship initiatives in the hospital and in the community as part of the SPARK program. SPARK, a six-week internship, is a collaborative program between WSUSOM and Michigan Area Health Education Center (MI-AHEC)

SPARK was established by Dr Teena Chopra, Associate Professor of Medicine and Director for Infection prevention, Hospital Epidemiology and Antibiotic Stewardship at the DMC. Through the SPARK program, students receive hands on training on infection prevention, antibiotic resistance and antibiotic stewardship. This program also mentors students on rapid diagnostics, the importance of vaccination and conducting outbreak investigations as a part of their 6-week training. SPARK students received informational sessions with a focus on quality improvement in the hospital, outreach community projects, careers in epidemiology, research methods and opportunities to build professional networks with peers and Wayne State University faculty and staff. Dr Chopra believes that "Early health education can be highly effective in increasing students' knowledge and constructing their behaviors regarding important and current public health issues and global threats." Dr Chopra has included learners of various levels in this program to help provide peer mentorship through medical students and help spark a mentor-mentee relationship for life.

"The knowledge of infection prevention, vaccination and antibiotic stewardship is critically lacking in our community," said Dr. Chopra. "The reluctance to vaccinate or 'vaccine hesitancy,' has led to the current measles outbreak and is on the World Health Organization's top 10 list of 2019 global threats to health. Detroit has the lowest vaccination rate in the nation. Similarly, the problem of antibiotic resistance has skyrocketed and is 1 of the 10 WHO global threats to health," she added." I have developed the SPARK curriculum to help empower the Detroit youth to understand the problems that plague our community and I believe this experience will "spark" their interest to pursue careers in the field of medicine and public health."

Students showcased their research findings during SPARK's closing ceremony in August at WSU-SOM. The presentations allowed students to communicate the importance of their research, learn how to clearly state their findings and analyze those findings and prompt others to ask questions and give valuable feedback.