Medical Research Institute (MRI) was established in response to the pharmaceutical industry's need for quality clinical trials in community settings with good patient populations. In a short period of time, MRI has excelled in conducting clinical research.

MRI conducts clinical trials in an efficient and cost effective manner. It is not impeded by the red tape of large academic medical institutions and large overheads, yet it utilizes the support of specialists in various disciplines of medicine and surgery. This enables the facility to offer services in acute, subacute, and long term studies. MRI is capable of providing clinical trials (including devices) in Phase I, II, III, and IV.

MRI has the distinction of being the highest enroller for several multi-center trials involving acute hemodynamic monitoring in patients with congestive heart failure. It has also had high enrollment success in studies targeting acute myocardial infarction for thrombolytic therapy requiring angiographic evaluation.

MRI conducts clinical trials in the following therapeutic areas:

• Cardiovascular Disease
• Critical Care
• Endocrinology & Diabetes
• Gastroenterology
• Internal Medicine
• Nephrology
• Migraine Headaches
• Healthy Volunteers
• Obstetrics/Gynecology
• Orthopedics
• Pharmacokinetics/Pharmacodynamics
• Pulmonary (COPD, Bronchial Asthma, Pulmonary Hypertension)
• Rheumatology & Analgesics
• In-patient/Out-patient studies

MRI is ideally located in a hospital outpatient wing and offers all the infrastructure to conduct research in this state of the art facility.

Vasanth Bethala, MD, FACP, FACC
Areas of Interest: congestive heart failure, acute MI, cardiac arrhythmia, angina, transesophageal echo, and interventional cardiology. Diplomate with American Board of Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Disease.

Victor Echenique, MD, FACP, FACC
Areas of Interest: hypertension, interventional cardiology, congestive heart failure/hemodynamics, stable and unstable angina. Diplomate with American Board of Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Disease.

Adesh Jain, MD
Areas of Interest: hypertension, analgesics, diabetes, arthritis, lipids, other therapeutic areas such as migraine, COPD, and bronchial asthma. Diplomate with American Board of Clinical Pharmacology.

Yasser Khaled, BS, MHA
Areas of Interest: Nuclear medicine; Responsible for operational and financial management of clinical trials. He has a clinical background in Nuclear Medicine technology and holds a Masters degree in Medical Health Administration.

Ignatius Thomas, MD, FACP, FACC
Areas of Interest: variant angina, coronary artery spasm, nuclear cardiology, congestive heart failure, and cardiovascular pharmacology. Diplomate with American Board of Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Diseases, Critical Care, Geriatrics and Certification Council of Nuclear Cardiology.

Studies Conducted at Medical Research Institute:

Therapeutic Area	# of Trials since January 1995
Congestive Heart Failure	23
Acute Coronary Syndrome	10
Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus	28
Hypertension	13
Cardiac Pacemakers	3
Obesity	9
Migraine (Glaxo-Wellcome sponsored)	3
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease	7
Acute Myocardial Infarction	7
Antiarrhythmic/Atrial Fibrillation	5
Duodenal Ulcer (H. pylori)	1
Irritable Bowel Syndrome	9
Osteoarthritis	7
Drug PK in Renal Dysfunction	1
Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Bronchitis	2
Community Acquired Pneumonia	4
Chronic Stable Angina	2
Hyponatremia	3
Dyslipidemia	12
Intermittent Claudication	1
Prevention of Restinosis or Vascular Occlusion	2
Genetherapy, Refractory Angina	1
Miscellaneous (anticoagulant)	1
Erosive Esophagitis with endoscopic follow-up	2
Gastroparesis	1
Psoriasis	1
Rheumatoid Arthritis	2
TOTAL	160

Experienced RN and LPN study coordinators are directed by Dr. Adesh Jain. With over 27 years of experience, Dr. Jain has conducted Phase I-IV clinical trials in a variety of therapeutic areas and has over 35 years of experience in clinical research.

Slidell and neighboring cities in Louisiana and Mississippi provide a vast patient pool. MRI is utilizing five affiliate sites in various geographical areas for easy patient access. Studies are ongoing in these sites and new site locations are being evaluated.

The goal of MRI is to conduct clinical trials in a variety of medical disciplines, provide the supportive staff and our trained study coordinators to the specialists, and eventually provide quality research data in compliance with Good Clinical Practice.

MRI has secured area for drug storage. Being located under the same roof as Slidell Memorial Hospital (SMH), and offices of various specialists, MRI can conveniently conduct both inpatient and outpatient studies in a diverse patient population. SMH and its affiliated outpatient offices have state-of-the-art diagnostic and therapeutic modalities. MRI has well-qualified and highly experienced staff dedicated to clinical trials only.

CenterWatch is listing the following trials that are actively recruiting patients at this center.

• A clinical research comparing the investigational use of an oral marketed drug to placebo for the treatment of moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis.
• Do You Have Type 2 Diabetes?
• No More UC – A research study for adults with mild to moderate ulcerative colitis currently in remission.

For more information, please contact:

Adesh Jain, M.D.
Director of Clinical Research
Medical Research Institute, Inc.
1051 Gause Blvd., Suite 330
Slidell, LA 70458 USA
Phone: 985-847-1090
Fax: 985-646-0862
E-mail:

If you are interested in contacting this center to discuss placing a clinical trial there, please complete and send the E-mail form below. A representative from the research center will then follow up with you.

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Last updated on February 25, 2008

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