Dr Sparks is a rheumatologist and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. He received his medical degree from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR and completed a residency in internal medicine at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St Louis, MO and Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO. Following his residency, he completed a fellowship in rheumatology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He received a Master of Medical Sciences degree in patient-oriented research from Harvard Medical School.

Dr Sparks’s research focuses on using patient-oriented and epidemiologic methods to evaluate the etiology, outcomes and public health burden of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus, sarcoidosis and rheumatic immune-related adverse events from immune checkpoint inhibitors. His studies have investigated pulmonary involvement as an initiation site for RA pathogenesis and clinical outcomes. He was a founding member of the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance and co-leads studies of rheumatic diseases and COVID-19 outcomes at Mass General Brigham, Boston, MA.

Dr Sparks serves as the Director of Immuno-Oncology and Autoimmunity and Director of Mentorship for the Rheumatology Fellowship Program of the Division of Rheumatology, Inflammation and Immunity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He has received research awards from the National Institutes of Health, American College of Rheumatology, European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR), Rheumatology Research Foundation, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Brigham Research Institute and Harvard Medical School.