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Jeffrey Andrew Sparks, M.D.

Title
Institution
Department
Address
Phone
Profile Picture

Biography
education and training
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, ARBS2003Physics
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, ARMD2007Medicine
Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO2010Internal Medicine
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MAMMSc2014Patient-oriented research
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA2014Rheumatology
awards and honors
2012
BWH Fellow Teaching Award
2013
ACR Distinguished Fellow Award
2014
RRF Scientist Development Award
2014 - 2021
NIH Loan Repayment Award
2016
BWH DOM Chair's Research Award
2017
BWH DOM Early Career Mentoring Award
2019
HMS Program Award for Culture of Excellence in Mentoring
2021
EULAR Clinical Abstract Award
2021
BWH DOM Chair's Research Award

Overview
overview
Our group has an overall focus on using patient-oriented and epidemiologic research studies to evaluate the etiology, outcomes, and public health burden of rheumatic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In particular, our research themes are: 1) RA risk and outcomes related to pulmonary disease, 2) outcomes of COVID-19 among patients with rheumatic diseases, and 3) rheumatic immune-related adverse events from immunotherapy for cancer treatment.

Mentoring
current student opportunities
Available: 04/05/22, Expires: 07/01/25

We are currently focusing on the interplay between lung inflammation/fibrosis and rheumatoid arthritis susceptibility and outcomes. We hypothesize that immune tolerance loss and RA-related autoantibody production occur at mucosal surfaces of the lung contributing to both RA risk and outcomes. Students may assist in investigating risk factors and outcomes of RA-associated interstitial lung diseases and bronchiectasis. Also, the team is testing the hypotheses using a variety of study designs, such as the Nurses' Health Studies, a large institutional RA registry, EMR data, pharmacy claims data, the Mass General Brigham Biobank, and clinical trials.


Research
research activities and funding
The research activities and funding listed below are automatically derived from NIH ExPORTER and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing items. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.
Most Recent  |  List All
  1. R01AR080659 (SPARKS, JEFFREY ANDREW) Feb 1, 2023 - Jan 31, 2028
    NIH
    Immunologic and Clinical Sequelae after COVID-19 in Patients with Systemic Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases
    Role: Principal Investigator
  2. Llura Gund Award for Rheumatoid Arthritis Research (SPARKS, JEFFREY ANDREW) Aug 1, 2022 - Jul 31, 2024
    Brigham and Women's Hospital Division of Rheumatology, Inflammation, and Immunity
    Immunologic and Clinical Sequelae after COVID-19 in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis
    Role: Principal Investigator
  3. R01HL155522 (WASHKO, GEORGE; SPARKS, JEFFREY ANDREW) Apr 15, 2022 - Mar 31, 2027
    NIH
    Rheumatoid Arthritis-associated Parenchymal Lung Disease: Clinical and Molecular Phenotypes
    Role: Multi-Principal Investigator
  4. R01AR077607 (SPARKS, JEFFREY ANDREW) Sep 27, 2021 - Jun 30, 2026
    NIH
    Rheumatoid Arthritis-Related Autoantibodies, Articular Inflammation, and RA-Associated Interstitial Lung Disease
    Role: Principal Investigator
  5. P30AR070253 (NIGROVIC, PETER; SPARKS, JEFFREY ANDREW) Aug 1, 2021 - Jul 31, 2026
    NIH
    Joint Biology Consortium Resource-based Center
    Role: Multi-Principal Investigator

Featured Content
Featured Videos
  • NIH Office of Disease Prevention: Mind the Gap webinar
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Bibliographic
selected publications
Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.
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PMC Citations indicate the number of times the publication was cited by articles in PubMed Central, and the Altmetric score represents citations in news articles and social media. (Note that publications are often cited in additional ways that are not shown here.) Fields are based on how the National Library of Medicine (NLM) classifies the publication's journal and might not represent the specific topic of the publication. Translation tags are based on the publication type and the MeSH terms NLM assigns to the publication. Some publications (especially newer ones and publications not in PubMed) might not yet be assigned Field or Translation tags.) Click a Field or Translation tag to filter the publications.
Displaying 25 of 312 total Publications Show all
  1. Sparks JA, Singh N. Tumour necrosis factor inhibitor safety in rheumatoid arthritis with early-stage cancer. Lancet Rheumatol. 2025.
  2. Mahajan A, Viola M, Ellen J, Piette EW, LaChance AH, Sparks JA. Rituximab vs cyclophosphamide for cancer risk in ANCA-associated vasculitis. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2025 Mar 24. PMID: 40127199.
    Citations: Article has an altmetric score of 2
  3. Inamo J, Keegan J, Griffith A, Ghosh T, Horisberger A, Howard K, Pulford JF, Murzin E, Hancock B, Dominguez ST, Gurra MG, Gurajala S, Jonsson AH, Seifert JA, Feser ML, Norris JM, Cao Y, Apruzzese W, Bridges SL, Bykerk VP, Goodman S, Donlin LT, Firestein GS, Bathon JM, Hughes LB, Filer A, Pitzalis C, Anolik JH, Moreland L, Hacohen N, Guthridge JM, James JA, Cuda CM, Perlman H, Brenner MB, Raychaudhuri S, Sparks JA, Accelerating Medicines Partnership RA/SLE Network, Holers VM, Deane KD, Lederer J, Rao DA, Zhang F. Deep immunophenotyping reveals circulating activated lymphocytes in individuals at risk for rheumatoid arthritis. J Clin Invest. 2025 Mar 17; 135(6). PMID: 40091833.
    Citations: Article has an altmetric score of 65
  4. McDermott GC, Moll M, Cho MH, Hayashi K, Juge PA, Doyle TJ, Paudel ML, Kinney GL, Kronzer VL, Kim JS, O'Keeffe LA, Davis NA, Bernstein EJ, Dellaripa PF, Regan EA, Hunninghake GM, Silverman EK, Ash SY, San Jose Estepar R, Washko GR, Sparks JA. Polygenic risk scores for rheumatoid arthritis and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and associations with RA, interstitial lung abnormalities, and quantitative interstitial abnormalities among smokers. Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2025 Mar 15; 72:152708. PMID: 40090204.
    Citations: Article has an altmetric score of 1
  5. Patel NJ, Srivatsan S, Kowalski EN, King A, Wang X, Vanni KM, Qian G, Hanberg JS, Bade KJ, Saavedra AA, Mueller KT, Hang B, Williams ZK, Johnson C, Negron M, Sparks JA, Wallace ZS. Patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases remain at risk for hospitalisation for COVID-19 infection in the Omicron era (2022-2024): a retrospective cohort study. RMD Open. 2025 Mar 05; 11(1). PMID: 40044572.
    Citations: Article has an altmetric score of 3
  6. Kronzer VL, Yang Y, Roul P, Crooks JL, Crowson CS, Davis JM, Sparks JA, Pierce JR, O'Dell K, Sauer BC, Cannon GW, Baker JF, Mikuls TR, England BR. Associations of fire smoke and other pollutants with incident rheumatoid arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis associated interstitial lung disease: reply. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2025 Feb 24. PMID: 39989247.
  7. Kronzer VL, Williamson KA, Hanson AC, Sletten JA, Sparks JA, Davis JM, Crowson CS. Quantifying and improving rheumatoid arthritis algorithm performance in biobank settings. Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2025 Feb 22; 72:152668. PMID: 40024070.
  8. Sendaydiego X, Gold LS, Dubreuil M, Andrews JS, Reid P, Liew DFL, Goulabchand R, Hughes GC, Sparks JA, Jarvik JG, Singh S, Liew JW, Singh N. Comparative safety of biologic and targeted synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs for cardiovascular outcomes in rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2025 Feb 12. PMID: 39936579.
  9. Wallace ZS, Lin M, Srivatsan S, King A, Wang X, Venkat R, Kawano Y, Negron M, Hang B, Schiff A, Hanberg J, Kowalski EN, Johnson C, Vanni KMM, Williams Z, Qian G, Bolden C, Mueller KT, Bade KJ, Saavedra AA, Patel NJ, Sparks JA. Impact of long COVID on self-reported disease activity, disability, and quality of life in individuals with inflammatory arthritis. Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2025 Feb 11; 71:152657. PMID: 39965512.
    Citations: Article has an altmetric score of 2
  10. Phan T, Ribeiro RM, Edelstein GE, Boucau J, Uddin R, Marino C, Liew MY, Barry M, Choudhary MC, Tien D, Su K, Reynolds Z, Li Y, Sagar S, Vyas TD, Kawano Y, Sparks JA, Hammond SP, Wallace Z, Vyas JM, Li JZ, Siedner MJ, Barczak AK, Lemieux JE, Perelson AS. Modeling suggests SARS-CoV-2 rebound after nirmatrelvir-ritonavir treatment is driven by target cell preservation coupled with incomplete viral clearance. J Virol. 2025 Feb 04; e0162324. PMID: 39902924.
    Citations: Article has an altmetric score of 11
  11. Chang SH, Sparks JA. Evidence of Airways Disease as a Common and Underappreciated Extra-Articular Rheumatoid Arthritis Manifestation. Chest. 2025 Feb; 167(2):309-311. PMID: 39939051.
  12. Restrepo D, Sultana S, Divakaran S, Sparks JA. Case 4-2025: A 41-Year-Old Man with Syncope, Ankle Swelling, and Abnormal Chest Imaging. N Engl J Med. 2025 Jan 30; 392(5):495-503. PMID: 39879596.
    Citations: Article has an altmetric score of 11
  13. Vanni KMM, McCarter KR, Wang X, Duffy C, Cruz JPD, Wobma H, Nikiforow S, Massarotti EM, Costenbader KH, Little JS, Gravallese EM, McDermott GC, Jacobson CA, Sparks JA. Safety of CAR T-cell therapy for cancer in pre-existing autoimmune or inflammatory disease: a retrospective comparative cohort study. Lancet Rheumatol. 2025 Jan 28. PMID: 39889722.
    Citations: Article has an altmetric score of 26
  14. Calabrese LH, Putman M, Sparks JA, Wallace Z, Kim AHJ, Winthrop KL, Calabrese C. The National Academies' 2024 Diagnostic Criteria for Long COVID: Concerns That Could Affect the Rheumatology Community. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2025 Jan 16. PMID: 39817308.
    Citations: Article has an altmetric score of 20
    Fields: RheRheumatology
  15. Chang SH, Park YB, McDermott GC, Paudel ML, Hayashi K, Ha YJ, Lee JS, Kim MU, Park CH, Kim JW, Ha JW, Chung SW, Lee SW, Kang EH, Lee YA, Choe JY, Lee EY, Sparks JA. Serum Biomarkers of Pulmonary Damage and Risk for Progression of Rheumatoid Arthritis-Associated Interstitial Lung Disease. J Rheumatol. 2025 Jan 15. PMID: 39814449.
    Citations: Article has an altmetric score of 11
    Fields: RheRheumatology
  16. Mueller KT, Saavedra AA, O'Keeffe LA, Sparks JA. Patient-Centric Approach for the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis-Associated Interstitial Lung Disease in Older People. Drugs Aging. 2025 Jan 13. PMID: 39800810.
    Citations: Article has an altmetric score of 2
    Fields: DruDrug TherapyGerGeriatrics
  17. Kronzer VL, Yang Y, Roul P, Crooks JL, Crowson CS, Davis JM, Sparks JA, Pierce JR, O'Dell K, Sauer BC, Cannon GW, Baker JF, Mikuls TR, England BR. Associations of fire smoke and other pollutants with incident rheumatoid arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2025 Jan 12. PMID: 39800945.
    Citations: Article has an altmetric score of 23
    Fields: RheRheumatology
  18. McDermott GC, Sparks JA. Tumour necrosis factor inhibitor safety in rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease. Lancet Rheumatol. 2025 Jan 07. PMID: 39793596.
    Citations: Article has an altmetric score of 13
    Fields: RheRheumatology
  19. Shah DP, Thaweethai T, Karlson EW, Bonilla H, Horne BD, Mullington JM, Wisnivesky JP, Hornig M, Shinnick DJ, Klein JD, Erdmann NB, Brosnahan SB, Lee-Iannotti JK, Metz TD, Maughan C, Ofotokun I, Reeder HT, Stiles LE, Shaukat A, Hess R, Ashktorab H, Bartram L, Bassett IV, Becker JH, Brim H, Charney AW, Chopra T, Clifton RG, Deeks SG, Erlandson KM, Fierer DS, Flaherman VJ, Fonseca V, Gander JC, Hodder SL, Jacoby VL, Kotini-Shah P, Krishnan JA, Kumar A, Levy BD, Lieberman D, Lin JJ, Martin JN, McComsey GA, Moukabary T, Okumura MJ, Peluso MJ, Rosen CJ, Saade G, Shah PK, Sherif ZA, Taylor BS, Tuttle KR, Urdaneta AE, Wallick JA, Wiley Z, Zhang D, Horwitz LI, Foulkes AS, Singer NG, RECOVER Consortium. Sex Differences in Long COVID. JAMA Netw Open. 2025 Jan 02; 8(1):e2455430. PMID: 39841477; PMCID: PMC11755195.
    Citations: Article has an altmetric score of 1233
    Fields: MedMedicine (General)
  20. Deane KD, Holers VM, Emery P, Mankia K, El-Gabalawy H, Sparks JA, Costenbader KH, Schett G, van der Helm-van Mil A, van Schaardenburg D, Thomas R, Cope AP. Therapeutic interception in individuals at risk of rheumatoid arthritis to prevent clinically impactful disease. Ann Rheum Dis. 2025 Jan; 84(1):14-28. PMID: 39874228.
    Fields: RheRheumatology
  21. McDermott GC, Hayashi K, Yoshida K, Juge PA, Moll M, Cho MH, Doyle TJ, Kinney GL, Dellaripa PF, Wallace ZS, Regan EA, Hunninghake GM, Silverman EK, Ash SY, Estepar RSJ, Washko GR, Sparks JA. Rheumatoid arthritis, quantitative parenchymal lung features and mortality among smokers. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2025 Jan 01; 64(1):133-142. PMID: 38048611.
    Citations: 3 Article has an altmetric score of 4
    Fields: RheRheumatology
  22. Geng LN, Erlandson KM, Hornig M, Letts R, Selvaggi C, Ashktorab H, Atieh O, Bartram L, Brim H, Brosnahan SB, Brown J, Castro M, Charney A, Chen P, Deeks SG, Erdmann N, Flaherman VJ, Ghamloush MA, Goepfert P, Goldman JD, Han JE, Hess R, Hirshberg E, Hoover SE, Katz SD, Kelly JD, Klein JD, Krishnan JA, Lee-Iannotti J, Levitan EB, Marconi VC, Metz TD, Modes ME, Nikolich JŽ, Novak RM, Ofotokun I, Okumura MJ, Parthasarathy S, Patterson TF, Peluso MJ, Poppas A, Quintero Cardona O, Scott J, Shellito J, Sherif ZA, Singer NG, Taylor BS, Thaweethai T, Verduzco-Gutierrez M, Wisnivesky J, McComsey GA, Horwitz LI, Foulkes AS, RECOVER Consortium. 2024 Update of the RECOVER-Adult Long COVID Research Index. JAMA. 2024 Dec 18. PMID: 39693079.
    Citations: Article has an altmetric score of 225
    Fields: MedMedicine (General)
  23. Kawano Y, Weber BN, Weisenfeld D, Jeffway MI, Cai T, McDermott GC, Liu Q, Sparks JA, Stuart J, Joseph J, Cai T, Liao KP. Risk of Incident Heart Failure and Heart Failure Subtypes in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2024 Dec 09. PMID: 39651569.
    Citations: Article has an altmetric score of 115
    Fields: RheRheumatology
  24. Van Steenbergen HW, Doornkamp F, Alivernini S, Backlund J, Codreanu C, Cohen SB, Combe B, Cope AP, Deane KD, England B, Falahee M, de Jong PHP , Kleyer A, Lacaille D, Maat B, Mankia KS, van Mulligen E, Nagy G, O’Neil LJ, Rodamaker L, Sahbudin I, van Schaardenburg D, Sepriano A, da Silva JAP, De Smet L, Sparks JA, Steyerberg EW, Studenic P, Wethingtone E, Landewe RL, Raza K, van der Helm-van Mil AHM. EULAR/ACR risk stratification criteria for development of rheumatoid arthritis in the risk stage of arthralgia. Ann Rheum Dis. 2024.
  25. Van Steenbergen HW, Doornkamp F, Alivernini S, Backlund J, Codreanu C, Cohen SB, Combe B, Cope AP, Deane KD, England B, Falahee M, de Jong PHP , Kleyer A, Lacaille D, Maat B, Mankia KS, van Mulligen E, Nagy G, O’Neil LJ, Rodamaker L, Sahbudin I, van Schaardenburg D, Sepriano A, da Silva JAP, De Smet L, Sparks JA, Steyerberg EW, Studenic P, Wethingtone E, Landewe RL, Raza K, van der Helm-van Mil AHM. EULAR/ACR risk stratification criteria for development of rheumatoid arthritis in the risk stage of arthralgia. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2024.
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