He is cofounder and president of COARE. He brings proven leadership with 25 years experience in both sales and marketing in the pharmaceutical industry. He was a Brand Director for the Roche Hepatitis C Specialty Care Marketing Team. Franks has an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University and MS from Seton Hall University.

Courtney W. Houchen, MD is founder and Chief Medical Adviser of COARE. He is a professor of medicine and holds the Frances and Malcolm Robinson Chair, and is the Chief of Digestive Diseases & Nutrition in the Department of Medicine at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC). He received his M.D. degree at Temple University and was a fellow in gastroenterology at Washington University.

He is the Chief of Operations and Executive Business Manager of COARE. His overall responsibility includes the day-to-day management of the company. He is also responsible for the preparation, execution and management of COARE’s extramural funding activities. Eddie has a BA from University of Missouri-St. Louis

20 years of biopharmaceutical experience, He served as the Managing Director of ScienceFirst, a leading strategic medical communications firm, where he advised and supported clients such as Merck, Pfizer, Novartis, AMGEN, and many other leading biopharmaceutical firms. He has worked in sales, sales and marketing management, finance and commercial development at increasing levels of responsibility, both domestically and internationally.