{"id":67656,"date":"2020-04-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-13T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2020\/04\/13\/john-sparks-m-d-leaves-a-legacy-at-unmc\/"},"modified":"2022-09-02T17:06:03","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T22:06:03","slug":"john-sparks-m-d-leaves-a-legacy-at-unmc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2020\/04\/13\/john-sparks-m-d-leaves-a-legacy-at-unmc\/","title":{"rendered":"John Sparks, M.D., leaves a legacy at UNMC"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Sparks, M.D., professor of pediatrics, is good-natured about his retirement tea having been, as he puts it, “rained out.”<\/p>\n

Instead of an on-campus celebration of his career, Dr. Sparks quietly spent the last few days as a UNMC employee working from home, as so many others are, during the current COVID-19 public health emergency. He officially retired March 31.<\/p>\n

Dr. Sparks hopes that tea will happen at some future date. “We’ll work something out,” he said.<\/p>\n

There will be a lot to celebrate when that day comes. Dr. Sparks was chair of pediatrics for more than 10 years and served as pediatrician-in-chief at Children’s Hospital & Medical Center. Dr. Sparks was the first holder of the Carol Remmers Angle, M.D., Presidential Chair of Pediatrics at UNMC.<\/p>\n

“I’m a pediatrician and I take care of sick babies,” Dr. Sparks said. “It’s been an honor to take care of babies at UNMC and at Children’s. It’s been a real privilege to be able to care for babies and their families, and to teach students and residents.”<\/p>\n

Dr. Sparks also treasures the memory of helping Children’s and UNMC implement an institutional affiliation to improve the care of children in the region.<\/p>\n

“It has really blossomed into a relationship that enhanced education, took care of a lot of kids and brought new specialists to Omaha,” he said. <\/p>\n

The partnership also supported pediatric research, Dr. Sparks said.<\/p>\n

That includes the creation of the Child Health Research Institute (CHRI), which was launched in 2018. Dr. Sparks was its founding executive director.<\/p>\n

When Dr. Sparks announced his intention to step down as chair of pediatrics in 2017, UNMC College of Medicine Dean Bradley Britigan, M.D., said, “It’s not a stretch to say that John was instrumental in transforming pediatric care for our region. The partnership with Children’s has been successful beyond our wildest dreams, and this was due in large part to the outstanding leadership and direction provided by Dr. Sparks. He came in 2008 and was a driving force in growing the department on all fronts — research, education and patient care.”<\/p>\n

Dr. Sparks has worked all over the country, but he and his wife will continue to live in Omaha. <\/p>\n

“We really like it here,” he said.<\/p>\n

He hopes, in retirement, to continue some teaching and limited research projects at UNMC.<\/p>\n

He also hopes that everyone is safe, and he will see you at a rescheduled retirement tea at a not-too-distant date.<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Sparks was chair of pediatrics for more than 10 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":58970,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","department-college-of-medicine","department-pediatrics","department-unmc-today-todays-headlines","author_override-kalani-simpson-unmc-public-relations"],"yoast_head":"\nJohn Sparks, M.D., leaves a legacy 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