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Dear UVA Health Team Members,

Today, we are excited to announce the winners of the second annual Spark Innovation Competition, which was created to leverage the many diverse talents of our team members and to support our culture journey. The Spark Competition was borne out of our broader culture transformation and is one of the many initiatives aimed at improving the daily lives of our team members at UVA Health. The competition cultivates positive change by empowering a culture of active listening and innovative-thinking that is transforming UVA Health.

The second annual competition focused on uncovering ways to positively impact the research environment. True to form, our team did not fail to show up for the second annual competition with 319 idea submissions from over 80 different areas of the health system. Following are this year’s winners based on the scope of impact, feasibility of implementation, and long-term sustainability. Full details and presentations of the semi-finalists’ ideas can be found here.

Congratulations to:

• Brant Isakson, CVRC | Provide designated outdoor seating/tables in the MR4/5/6 courtyard to create a healthier, more productive work environment
• Jennifer Phillips, iTHRIV/Dean’s Office | Biannual or quarterly award recognizing contributions of research staff
• Anne Sperling, Medicine/Pulmonology | De-mystify the research environment for new faculty 
• Johnson Ung, MIC | Improve experience for prospective and current postdoctoral fellows across UVA Health

As a reminder, any submissions that were not selected for the final two rounds of the competition are shared with leaders overseeing the area impacted by the idea to help inform local improvement efforts.

Please join us in congratulating these first-round winners and thanking all participants for sharing their innovative ideas. We encourage all team members to continue to think big and find ways to positively impact our UVA Health community.

Please reach out to Hannah Fitzhugh (hes3x@uvahealth.org) with any questions or feedback.

Many thanks on behalf of the entire Spark Project Team,

David Kashatus, PhD
Spark Innovation Competition Lead, Research
Associate Professor
Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Cancer Biology