ABOUT

At SEC Clinical Research, we believe in well-established safety, ethical and regulatory standards- in order to provide quality care for our patients and accurate data for our Sponsors.

 

Our company culture at SEC Clinical Research has two central elements: First, we all embrace the highly regulated nature of the clinical research industry as necessary and appropriate for insuring that our research subjects participate safely, and that our Sponsors are provided with high quality data capable of withstanding regulatory scrutiny. Second, the leadership at SEC Clinical Research has created an environment in which mistakes and errors are minimized by constructively reviewing the few that do occur. Processes are continually perfected, and working conditions optimized, so that all of us at SEC Clinical Research can work at the highest standards possible.

Our Investigators

Rob Garver, MD

Rob Garver received his MD and internal medicine training at Johns Hopkins, followed by a pulmonary fellowship at NHLBI.  He served as a faculty member in the UAB Pulmonary Division, ending his tenure there as Professor of Medicine.  He received critical care medicine board certification while at UAB which rekindled his clinical interests, including the pulmonary needs of underserved populations, which led to the formation of SEC Lung in Andalusia AL.  Clinical research started as a small sideline to the practice in early 2013, and with rapid growth resulted in the formation of SEC Clinical Research in 2016.  Rob’s clinical practice has been curtailed in order to provide more time for research, and he has served as PI or SubI on more than 50 protocols since 2013.  His primary investigative interest are those studies pertaining to respiratory disease, but he has also been active in the cardiovascular space.  He is the site director for SEC Clinical Research.

Ed Lacour, MD

Ed Lacour received his MD from Tulane, and completed his rheumatology fellowship at Northwestern.  He holds board certification for both Internal Medicine and Rheumatology.  He began his career in academic medicine, serving on the clinical faculty at Northwestern, followed by a faculty position at the University of Arkansas.  He left academic medicine, and is now the only rheumatologist in a large multispecialty practice in Dothan AL.  Ed has a thriving practice that includes a large population of rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis patients.  He is an expert in osteoporosis and gout, and has served on advisory boards for several large pharmaceutical companies, including Merck and Janssen.

Guy Middleton, MD

Guy Middleton received his MD from UAB, and completed in OB/GYN training at Baylor.  He has been a partner at Dothan OB/GYN, a leading OB/GYN group in Dothan where he has an active obstetrics practice mixed with gynecology.  Guy has been active in the medical community of Dothan, serving as Medical Director of the Women’s Center, Chairman of OB/GYN at Southeast Health Hospital.  He is plays a leading role in multiple quality improvement initiatives for Women’s Health in Alabama, including the following:  leadership team of the Alabama Perinatal Excellence Collaborative, member of the Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Network (COIIN) and as the inaugural member of the Alabama Maternal Mortality Review Committee.

Andreas Muench, MD

Andreas Muench received his MD from Otto-von Guericke University in Germany, followed by internal medicine residency at University of Kansas Medical Center.  Residency was followed by fellowships in Cardiovascular Disease and Interventional Cardiology at University of Texas – Houston, and he is now boarded in both Cardiovascular Disease and Interventional Cardiology.  Andreas has a busy practice with a mix of both general and interventional cardiology cases, and more recently has been performing TAVR in addition to more traditional interventions.  Based in Dothan, he  also holds satellite clinics in western Georgia and the Florida panhandle.  He has worked closely with SEC Clinical Research since 2017 as both SubInvestigator and Principal Investigator, providing a large population for recruitment into heart failure and dyslipidemia protocols.

Marvin Sexton, MD

Marvin Sexton received his MD from UAB, and completed his internal medicine (including Chief Medical Resident), pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine – and is now ABIM certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Medicine, Critical Care Medicine, and Sleep Medicine.  Marvin has spent his career at Dothan Pulmonary Associates, the only pulmonary medicine practice in Dothan serving both hospitals.  He has been held multiple leadership positions in the Dothan medical community, having served in the recent past as Chief of Medicine, Medical Director of Critical Care Medicine and Medical Director of Sleep at Southeast Health Hospital.  He also teaches at the Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine. His practice is enormous, and facilitates recruitment into challenging respiratory protocols.   Since 2017, Marvin has been active in clinical research, serving as both PI and SubI on COPD, asthma and IPF studies performed at SEC Clinical Research.

Our On-Site Sub-Investigators

We staff our sites with licensed, full-time, Advanced Practice Registered Nurses for optimal oversight during working hours.

Dothan 1

Ashley Thomas, APRN

Ashley joined SEC Clinical Research during the dark days of early spring 2020, just as Covid-19 shut down much of the country, along with enrollment into every research study for several months. She is now a seasoned sub-investigator at the Dothan 1 site, participating in visits, and providing outstanding oversight and leadership.

Dothan 2

Janeetra Coachman, APRN

Janeetra’s former employer relocated out of state, and fortunately for us, he was unable to convince her to follow him. Janeetra has been part of SEC Clinical Research since early 2021, and has developed into an outstanding Sub-Investigator located at the Dothan 2 site.

Pensacola

Angela MacKay, APRN

Angela is an APRN with 10 years of experience as a Clinical Research Coordinator. In the past she also served as Director of Nursing Informatics at Southeast Health in Dothan, AL, and as Director of Clinical Operations for a large interventional vascular group in Pensacola. Angela has the energy and passion to rapidly develop our newest site in Pensacola, FL.

CONTACT US

If you are interested in volunteering for any of our research studies, contact us: