In the 1940s, Dr. Grady Segrest had the largest internal medical practice in Mobile and was known by the medical profession throughout Alabama. He decided to establish a clinic specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of internal medicine and its subspecialties. He invited Dr. John Moss and Dr. William Atkinson, two younger physicians with special training in internal medicine and two of the subspecialties, to join him. Diagnostic and Medical Clinic was opened in 1949. It had complete laboratory and x-ray departments with trained technologists, and electrocardiographic and metabolic departments. Dr. Henry Gewin completed his medical residency at Yale University in 1951, and joined the clinic on July 1, 1951. Internal medicine and subspecialty board testing and certification were so new when the clinic was founded that when Dr. Atkinson became certified in internal medicine in 1951, he was the only one in Mobile. In 1954 when he was certified in cardiovascular disease, he was the only physician in Alabama other than Dr. Tinsley Harrison, to be certified. Dr. Harrison was the world famous chairman of the department of internal medicine and cardiovascular disease at the University Alabama School of Medicine. The clinic developed a reputation in Mobile and the surrounding area, and attracted referrals and patients from southern Alabama, Mississippi, and the panhandle of Florida. It grew steadily and more physicians were added as it grew. There was always a policy of adding only highly trained physicians in internal medicine and subspecialties of internal medicine, and of having highly qualified personnel working in all departments. In 1968, Dr. Martin Lester completed his training under Dr. Harrison and joined the clinic with certification in internal medicine and cardiovascular disease. In 1973, he was followed by Dr. Albert Coker with certification in internal medicine and infectious diseases. Dr. J. Donald Kirby, with certification in internal medicine and gastroenterology joined the clinic in 1977. Then, in 1979, Dr. William C. Gewin joined the clinic with the subspecialty of pulmonary disease. The clinic continues to grow and now has thirty-three physicians–all with years of extra training in internal medicine and its subspecialties. The latest move to the four story, 96,000 square foot facility at 1700 Springhill Avenue on July 25, 2001, was an historic moment in the history of the Diagnostic and Medical Clinic. When originally founded, the clinic was in a beautiful setting of large oak trees on a large piece of property at the corner of Government Street and Georgia Avenue, where a large, old Southern home had been located before it was destroyed by fire. Three additions were made to the first building, but finally the clinic outgrew even this space and was moved to a much larger building in the Mobile Infirmary complex on Springhill Avenue on, in July 15, 1991. In 1991, rheumatology was added when Dr. Thomas C. McGee joined the clinic. Endocrinology was added when Dr. Anita Smith Kemmerly joined the clinic in 1995. With the addition of Dr. Hercules Panayiotou in 1998, cardiology services were expanded enormously. The latest subspecialty of dermatology was added when Dr. J. Graham Smith, Jr. joined the clinic in 1999.