Leaders + Advisors
We are scientists, educators, project managers, industry experts, and business and nonprofit leaders working together to more effectively advance academic discoveries from the lab to the clinic.
Leaders
Stephen Kargotich, PhD, MBA, LLB
Executive Director
Opher Kornfeld, PhD
Managing Director of Translational Research and Development
Daria Mochly-Rosen, PhD
Chief Science and Education Advisor
Kevin Grimes, MD, MBA
Chief Clinical and Education Advisor
Translational Research Advisory Committee (TRAC)
Kevin Grimes, MD, MBA
Chief Clinical and Education Advisor, SPARK NS
Dirk Mendel, PhD
Associate Director, Translational Science, SPARK at Stanford
Daria Mochly-Rosen, PhD
Chief Science and Education Advisor, SPARK NS
Industry Advisors
Our 100+ industry expert advisors have experience in every aspect of the drug discovery and development process and long track records of success advancing academic discoveries from lab to clinic. Academic researchers in our program benefit from cohort-wide project and progress meetings attended by panels of advisors at the same time as well as one-on-one or small group mentoring in areas of need.
Clinical Operations
Venture Capital
Diagnostics & Biomarkers
Pharmacology
Legal & Licensing
Medical Affairs
Pharma Business Development
Medicinal Chemistry
Clinical Trial Design
Regulatory
Formulation
Entrepreneurship
Antibody Engineering
The SPARK NS Translational Research Program
SPARK NS is no longer accepting applications for the 2027 Cohort of our translational research program for academic researchers working to advance their discoveries in Parkinson’s disease, autism, and related conditions toward therapeutics that benefit patients. We will release a Call for Proposals for the 2028 Cohort in the spring of 2027.