Charisse Y. Sparks, M.D., creates positive change in medical device development and hospital services to build value. As one of the first three African American female Orthopaedic Trauma Surgeons in the country, she drives meaningful innovation for patients in both clinical practice and successful transition to industry. Her first Board of Directors experience was with publicly traded Inspire Medical Systems, Inc. during which Inspire celebrated its fifth year on the NYSE. Her medical, clinical research and regulatory knowledge was so insightful and useful in guiding the Board that the CEO recruited her to join him in the C-Suite as the Company’s first Chief Medical Officer. In this role Dr. Sparks reimagined strategic engagement with key opinion leaders and other key stakeholders to further the mission and vision for this industry leader. This engagement is leading to innovative insights that solidify the scientific, clinical, and direct patient impact of current and next generation products and services from Inspire. Culminating in FDA approval of Inspire’s Inspire V implantable device. Dr. Sparks also leads first-in-human clinical research/trials and post-approval clinical trials.
Fresh out of her Harvard Orthopaedic Trauma Fellowship, she led three successive hospitals in escalating to a higher billing status for the entire hospital by collaborating with all stakeholders to transition them from Level III to Level II Trauma Centers. At Johnson & Johnson’s DePuy Synthes Companies, Dr. Sparks influenced the future of medical devices for trauma, extremities, craniomaxillofacial, animal health (TECA) and digital therapeutics across the entire development lifecycle – pre-clinical to the patient experience, facilitating increased product offerings, focusing on patient, provider, and hospital satisfaction, as well as increased revenue.
DePuy Synthes’ executives personally recruited Dr. Sparks for a new position where she became their first Fellowship Trained Orthopaedic Trauma Surgeon. During her tenure, Dr. Sparks facilitated numerous successful FDA new product filings and acquired seven global product approvals for the J&J portfolio. She positioned the entire TECA organization for EU-MDR regulatory readiness and built several cross-functional teams of industry experts to drive product innovation, evidence-based product support, QA risk management, and data-driven value validation for patients, hospitals, physicians, and payers. She also aligned the business with technologies that are rapidly reshaping the medical device landscape. Her initiative to use IBM Watson in addressing regulatory compliance needs was accepted for presentation at the 2019 J&J Data Science Showcase.
Dr. Sparks’ career stands on four pillars of success:
- Strategic Innovation and Integration – Leading stakeholders and developing global strategies. Generating evidence assets that drive product safety and effectiveness by incorporating innovative uses of machine learning, natural language processing and artificial intelligence.
- Driving Enterprise Growth – Developing and executing global strategies that advanced a $9BFortune 100 Medical Device division while exceeding individual and corporate performance objectives. Currently responsible for $10M P&L in clinical research at Inspire.
- Clinical & Medical Expertise – Accelerating innovation through the lens of decades of direct patient care. Championing value and quality, patient safety, customer satisfaction, and regulatory compliance.
- Change Agent Mindset – Identifying, recruiting, onboarding, and leading teams of fellow surgeons and physicians, business executives, epidemiologists, and clinical research scientists. Aligning team member compensation to performance.
Dr. Sparks remains ABOS certified in Orthopaedics and holds medical licenses in six states.