Internship Programs

CIRM-Funded Internship Programs: SPARK, Bridges, COMPASS, & Scholars

CIRM’s mission is to accelerate world class science to deliver transformative regenerative medicine treatments in an equitable manner to a diverse California and world. Key to achieving this mission is the creation of a diverse and skilled work force.

Through formally awarded Training Grants, CIRM supports coursework and sponsors laboratory research internships for students and trainees of various education levels around the state of California. To learn more about these unique educational internship and training programs and how to apply, see below.

SPARK Program (High School)

The Summer Program to Accelerate Regenerative Medicine Knowledge (SPARK) offers California high school students an invaluable opportunity to gain hands-on training in stem cell research at some of the leading research institutes in California. The SPARK program targets students who represent the diversity of California’s population, particularly those who might not otherwise have opportunities to partake in research internships due to socioeconomic constraints.

SPARK students spend a summer learning about stem cells and regenerative medicine and will participate in a six-week paid research internship in a stem cell lab. At the end of their program, students get to show off their hard work by presenting their research at the SPARK annual conference.

There are 11 active SPARK programs located in Northern and Southern California. Each program has its own application and selection process. If you are a student, teacher, or family member interested in learning more about the application process and deadlines, please visit the individual SPARK program websites listed below for specific details.

If you have questions about the SPARK program, please email CIRM at education@cirm.ca.gov.

SPARK Program	Location	Application Form	Application Due Date	Residency Eligibility Requirements	Program Director	Contact
Northern California
UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland	Oakland	Available 12/1/2023	2/16/2024	US Citizen or US permanent resident with SF Bay Area preference and under-represented in the sciences	Dr. Ellen Fung	ssrp@ucsf.edu
UC San Francisco	San Francisco	Available late January (2024)	Check with Program Director	Current high school juniors enrolled in an SF USD high school or an SF charter school and from backgrounds underrepresented in the sciences (further defined in the program FAQ)	Dr. Katherine Nielsen	Katherine.Nielsen@ucsf.edu
Stanford	Palo Alto	Available 12/20/2023	2/24/2024	US Citizen or US permanent resident with SF Bay Area preference	Dr. PJ Utz	pjutz@stanford.edu
UC Davis	Sacramento	Available Soon	Check with Program Director	High school students in good standing who 1) attend a school within 45 miles of the UC Davis Institute for Regenerative Cures and 2) will be 16 years old on or before program start date. Additional criteria must be met to receive the award and participate in the summer program.	Dr. Francisco Fierro	ffierro@ucdavis.edu
Southern California
Cedars-Sinai RMI Education	Los Angeles	Available 12/02/2024	1/6/2025	1) US citizen or US permanent resident 2) Applicants reside in Los Angeles or the surrounding area and have reliable transportation to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for the duration of their internship.	Dr. Wafa Tawackoli and Katherine Aragon	GroupRMIEducation@cshs.org
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science	Los Angeles	Available Now	3/15/2024	US citizen or permanent resident. Current 11th grade students attending high schools in South Los Angeles and neighboring areas.	Ms. Dolores Caffey-Fleming	deefleming@cdrewu.edu
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles	Los Angeles	Check with Program Director	Check with Program Director		Dr. Mark Frey	mfrey@chla.usc.edu
City of Hope	Duarte	Check with Program Director	TBD- usually March	US Citizen or US permanent resident	Dr. David Ann	dann @coh.org
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute	San Diego	Available 1/16/2024	4/1/2024	1) US citizen or US permanent resident, 2) Applicants must reside in San Diego County or Imperial County and have reliable transportation to Sanford Burnham Prebys for the duration of their 6-week internship.	Dr. Sanjeev Anrade	sranade@sbpdiscovery.org
UC Riverside	Riverside	Available Now	1/19/2024	California permanent resident; Inland Empire School District students referred by a science teacher.	Dr. Huinan Liu	huinan.liu@ucr.edu and stride@engr.ucr.edu
UC San Diego	San Diego	Check with Program Director	TBD- usually April	Must reside within San Diego and attend Lincoln, Hoover, Crawford or Morse High Schools	Dr. James Murphy	j2murphy@health.ucsd.edu

Learn more about our SPARK program on the Stem Cellar Blog and on Instagram:

CIRM SPARK Videos:

SPARK student stem cell pitches (2016)
CIRM Creativity music videos (2015)

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Bridges Program (Undergraduate and Masters)

The CIRM Bridges to Stem Cell Research and Therapy Program prepares California’s undergraduate and master’s graduate students for highly productive careers in stem cell research and therapy development.

Started in 2009, the program provides paid stem cell research internships to students at universities and colleges that don’t have major stem cell research programs of their own. Each Bridges internship includes thorough hands-on training and education in stem cell research, and direct outreach activities that engage California’s diverse communities.

There are 15 active Bridges programs throughout California, each with its own eligibility criteria and application process. If you are interested in applying, please see the table below for more details about each program.

If you have questions about the Bridges program, please email CIRM at education@cirm.ca.gov.

Bridges Program	Program Director	Contact
Northern California
Berkeley City College	Barbara Des Rochers	bsdesroch@hotmail.com
City College of San Francisco	Carin Zimmerman	carin.zimmerman@mail.ccsf.edu
California State University, Sacramento	Kimberly Mulligan	kimberly.mulligan@csus.edu
Cal Poly Humboldt	Amy Sprowles (Co-Director)	aes54@humboldt.edu
San Francisco State University	Lily Chen	lilychen@sfsu.edu
San Jose State University	Bree Grillo Hill	bree.grillo-hill@sjsu.edu
Southern California
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo	Trevor Cardinal	tcardina@calpoly.edu
California State University, Channel Islands	Nikita Parmar	nitika.parmar@csuci.edu
California State University, Fullerton	Nilay Patel	npatel@fullerton.edu
California State University, Long Beach	Lisa Klig	ls.klig@csulb
California State University, Northridge	Cindy Malone	cmalone@csun.edu
California State University, San Bernardino	Nicole Bournias-Vardiabasis	nbournia@csusb.edu
California State University, San Marcos	Bianca Mothé	bmothe@csusm.edu
Pasadena City College	Pamela Eversole-Cire	pleversole-cire@pasadena.edu
San Diego State University	Ralph Feuer	rfeuer@mail.sdsu.edu

Learn more through these stories about the CIRM Bridges to Stem Cell Research and Therapy Programs

CIRM Stem Cellar Blogs:

CIRM Videos:

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COMPASS Program (Undergraduate)

The COMPASS (Creating Opportunities through Mentorship and Partnership Across Stem Cell Science) Program prepares a diverse group of undergraduate students for careers in regenerative medicine by combining hands-on research opportunities with strategic and structured mentorship experiences.

COMPASS programs develop and implement novel strategies to recognize and foster untapped talent that can lead to new and valuable perspectives that are specific to the challenges of regenerative medicine, and that will create new paths to a spectrum of careers that are not always apparent to students in the academic, undergraduate environment.

There are 16 active COMPASS programs throughout California, each with its own eligibility criteria and application process. If you are interested in applying, please see the table below for more details about each program.

If you have questions about the COMPASS program, please email CIRM at education@cirm.ca.gov.

COMPASS Program	Location	Program Director	Email
Northern California
UC Davis	Davis	Alice F. Tarantal	aftarantal@ucdavis.edu
San Francisco State University	San Francisco	Lily Chen	lilychen@sfsu.edu
UC Merced	Merced	Kara E. McCloskey	kmccloskey@ucmerced.edu
UC Berkeley	Berkeley	John Matsui	matsui@berkeley.edu
Solano Community College	Fairfield	James DeKloe	james.dekloe@solano.edu
Southern California
MiraCosta College	San Diego	Michael Fino	mfino@miracosta.edu
UC Riverside	Riverside	Huinan Hannah Liu	huinan.liu@ucr.edu
UC Irvine	Irvine	Brian J. Cummings	Cummings@uci.edu
CSU Fullerton	Fullerton	Alison Miyamoto	almiyamoto@fullerton.edu
CSU San Bernardino	San Bernardino	Daniel Nickerson	daniel.nickerson@csusb.edu
CSU Northridge	Northridge	Cindy S. Malone	cmalone@csun.edu
CSU San Marcos	San Marcos	Bianca Romina Mothé	bmothe@csusm.edu
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo	San Luis Obispo	Kristen O’Halloran Cardinal	kohallor@calpoly.edu
UC Santa Barbara	Santa Barbara	Dennis O. Clegg	clegg@ucsb.edu
UCLA	Los Angeles	Tracy L. Johnson	tljohnson@ucla.edu
USC	Los Angeles	Senta Georgia	sgeorgia@usc.edu

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CIRM Scholars Program (Pre-Doctoral, Post-Doctoral, and Clinical Fellows)

The “CIRM Scholars” Research Training Program fosters and enhances the research experience of basic and clinical scientists during the doctoral and immediate postdoctoral stages of their career, helping them become skilled leaders in the field of regenerative medicine.

The CIRM Scholars program supports research fellowships in stem cell, gene therapy and related disciplines to a diverse cadre of individuals drawn from a wide variety of scientific backgrounds, including fundamental biology, engineering, clinical programs, and other relevant areas like manufacturing process development, data science, bioethics, and more. All Scholars have opportunities to participate in community and patient engagement and many will serve as mentors and role models to future generations of scientists.

There are 18 active CIRM Scholars programs throughout California, each with its own eligibility criteria and application process. If you are interested in applying, please see the table below for more details about each program.

If you have questions about the CIRM Scholars program, please email CIRM at education@cirm.ca.gov.

Scholars Program	Location	Program Director	Email
Northern California
UC San Francisco	San Francisco	Robert Blelloch	robert.blelloch@ucsf.edu
UC Davis	Sacramento	Jan A Nolta	janolta@ucdavis.edu
UC Berkeley	Berkeley	Dirk Hockemeyer	hockemeyer@berkeley.edu
Stanford	Stanford	Tushar Desai	tdesai@stanford.edu
The J. David Gladstone Institutes UCSF	San Francisco	Bruce R. Conklin	bconklin@gladstone.ucsf.edu
UC Santa Cruz	Santa Cruz	Camilla Forsberg	cforsber@ucsc.edu
Southern California
Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor – UCLA Medical Center	Los Angeles	Virender K. Rehan	vrehan@lundquist.org
UC Irvine	Irvine	Peter J. Donovan	pdonovan@uci.edu
UC Santa Barbara	Santa Barbara	Dennis O. Clegg	clegg@ucsb.edu
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute	San Diego	Evan Y. Snyder	esnyder@sbpdiscovery.org
Scripps Research Institute	San Diego	Peter G. Schultz	schultz@scripps.edu
UC San Diego	San Diego	Alysson R. Muotri	muotri@ucsd.edu
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles	Los Angeles	Ching-Ling Lien	CLien@chla.usc.edu
Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope	Duarte	Michael E. Barish	mbarish@coh.org
USC	Los Angeles	Francesca Mariani	fmariani@usc.edu
UCLA	Los Angeles	William Lowry	blowry@mcdb.ucla.edu
UC Riverside	Riverside	Prue Talbot	talbot@ucr.edu
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center	Los Angeles	Wafa Tawackoli	wafa.tawackoli@csmc.edu

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Explore stories from our educational and training programs on our blog The Stem Cellar.

For inquiries about a specific program, please contact the program personnel listed in the tables above. For additional inquiries about CIRM’s educational and training programs, please contact Dr. Daisy Xin at education@cirm.ca.gov.