Mark Marchant, MPH, MBA, CCRP

205.934.2098

Mark began serving as the Director of the Clinical Trials Administrative Office (CTAO) in May 2016. Prior to returning to the School of Medicine, he spent 5 ½ years in the Department of Epidemiology at the School of Public Health in various administrative roles as a part of the Pharmacoepidemiology and Economic Research (PEER) Group. Mark began his research career in the Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology in 2004 where he worked in the Arthritis Clinical Intervention Program (ACIP) conducting Phase I-IV clinical trials. He holds a Master of Business Administration, Master of Public Health, and a Bachelor of Science all from UAB. Mark is also a Certified Clinical Research Professional through the Society of Clinical Research Associates and a member of the Drug Information Association.

Fekisha Vaughan Guyton, MPA, MSW

205.934.7130

During her 25-year tenure of continuous UAB experience, Fekisha served primarily in the roles of Program Manager and Data Analyst. Her career spans several UAB entities, including the UAB O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, the UAB School of Public Health/Biostatistics Unit, and the UAB Division of Surgical Oncology. She is versed in clinical trials regulatory processes, data evaluation/analysis, clinical research site coordination, and grants fiscal management. As a previous member of the Society for Clinical Trials, she presented on database manipulation topics, served as a guest speaker for clinical research workshops and data management courses, and contributed to a number of publications. Fekisha earned a Master of Public Administration in Management Information Systems (Troy University). She is also a three-time UAB alumna (Master of Social Work, Bachelor of Social Work, Bachelor of Sociology). As Manager of the CBR/CTAO, Fekisha is responsible for quality control and assurance, the execution of the coverage analysis process, clinical trials financial compliance, and CBR technology management.

CTAO Clinical Billing Review Analysts

205.996.9754

After receiving her Bachelor of Science degree in General Health Studies from The University of Alabama, Shameka started her career at UAB in 2003. She has been provided with many opportunities to work in several areas of research. She has worked in the areas of recruitment, administration, and coordinating numerous research protocols in the Departments of Preventive Medicine and Nutrition Sciences. Shameka worked in the UAB O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) as a Clinical Trials Specialist. She was responsible for being familiar with each protocol as it pertained to the Breast Cancer Research Studies, entering data into Electronic Case Report Forms, as well as working closely with Clinical Research Associates for Industry and Investigator-Initiated trials. She was promoted to the OnCore team as a Clinical Trials Administrator. In this role, she was involved in the calendar build process in the OnCore system for several disease groups, in order to create Clinical Trial Billing Notices. While working at the CCC, Shameka decided to pursue and was awarded a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in August 2018. Currently working in Clinical Billing Review, she reviews budgets and performs coverage analyses for several assigned therapeutic areas.

Kennethee Dunner Bryant, MPA

205.934.3187

Kennethee has over fifteen years of Medical Billing and Patient Financial Services experience. She began her career working at LabCorp as a Medical Billing Data Entry Operator, and while being employed there, continued her education as a Medical Laboratory Technician. After working for the lab for several years, she knew that her passion was with Medical Billing and Patient Financials. She then proceeded to become CPAR certified and worked for several different medical billing companies before finding her home with UAB. Kennethee worked with Navigant Cymetrix, a UAB third-party billing company at the Avondale Business Center, for three years as a Patient Financial Representative where she provided billing support for both the Clinical Trials and Hospital billing teams. While with Navigant, she attained a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from Talladega College. Kennethee then began working at the UAB O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Office of Community Outreach and Engagement as their Program Administrator, where her primary duties were providing financial support for the organization. She began her tenure as a Clinical Research Analyst with the Clinical Trials Administrative Office in February 2021, and earned a Masters of Public Administration. Currently working in Clinical Billing Review, she performs coverage analyses for several assigned therapeutic areas.

Nivedita Patkar, MSPH

205.975.2441

Nivedita has over 17 years of experience working on national and international clinical trials in various therapeutic areas as well as on research studies sponsored by the NIH, PCORI, FDA and pharmaceutical industries. She has experience in research in UAB’s Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, and in the Emergency Medicine department. Nivedita has been a core team member in writing grant proposals and scientific manuscripts, and has over thirty publications in peer-reviewed journals. As a regulatory manager she has also been responsible for IRB submissions, including to the WCG IRB and ADVARRA, and has been an administrative manager for OnCore and Clinical Trials Billings portfolio at UAB’s Emergency Medicine department. Nivedita is an UAB alumnus, having obtained her Masters in Outcomes Research in 2006. While acting as a CBR Analyst, with a number of assigned therapeutic groups, she regulates clinical trials financial compliance and performs coverage analyses.

Kimberly Robinson, LBSW, BSW, BA

205.996.7573

Kimberly (Kym) has provided over 19 years of research experience to UAB in Preventive Medicine and with the UAB O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center. Her work involved direct patient navigation to cancer patients on standard care, and therapeutic clinical trials for treatment. As a team member, she was instrumental in increasing and retaining African American cancer patients on therapeutic clinical trials at UAB O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center for more than nine years. This led to published works and recognition for UAB. Kym received both her BA and BSW degrees from UAB. As a licensed social worker, she has provided education, team building, and support to patients, people in the community, community organizations, and health care professionals. For five years she helped lead and implement New Light, a Komen Community Grant, which also produced a breast cancer support group. Kym’s ability to work with all parties of the research team helped her to achieve her desired career goals. Her other areas of research experience include chart abstraction, and health education. Currently, as a CBR Analyst, Kym is resposible for the targeted budget reviews, and the coverage analysis process of various clinical therapeutic areas.