Health AI Central
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Bioelectron Med2026;12(1)September 4, 2026Journal Article

Accelerating the development of bioelectronic medicine: outcomes and innovations from the NIH SPARC initiative.

Bhavesh Patel1, Victor Pikov2, Margot S Damaser3,4, Jyl Boline5, Susan J Tappan6, David P Nickerson7, Matthew P Ward8, Pallavi K Gunalan9, Esra Neufeld10, Kip A Ludwig11, Jeffrey S Grethe12, Joost B Wagenaar13, Maryann E Martone12
1FAIR Data Innovations Hub, California Medical Innovations Institute, San Diego, CA, USA. bpatel@calmi2.org.
2Medipace Inc, Pasadena, CA, USA.
3Department of Biomedical Engineering, Cleveland Clinic Research, Cleveland, OH, USA.
4Advanced Platform Technology Center, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Louis Stokes Cleveland, Cleveland, OH, USA.
5Informed Minds Inc., Walnut Creek, CA, USA.
6Rock Maple Science, Inc. Hinesburg, Hinesburg, VT, USA.
7Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
8Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
9University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
10Foundation for Research on Information Technologies in Society (IT'IS), Zurich, Switzerland.
11University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
12Department of Neurosciences, School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
13Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
PubMed DOI

Abstract

The NIH Common Fund's SPARC (Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Conditions) program was launched in 2015 to catalyze bioelectronic medicine by advancing foundational knowledge of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and enabling clinical translation of novel bioelectronic medicines. While the program officially ended in 2025, activities related to the program are still ongoing through no-cos…

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