Our team has a combined 30 years of experience in the medical and clinical research industries.  Our Principal Investigator, Stephen M. Minton, MD, has been in practice for over 20 years, 19 in the Washington metropolitan area, and has developed an outstanding reputation in the community and excellent referral relationships.  Dr. Minton is the Managing Partner of Alexandria Primary Care Associates (APCA) which was established in 1995 and is co-owned by Dr. Minton and one other physician, both of whom are active in the practice.  APCA is staffed with seven Internal Medicine Board Certified Physicians, some of whom serve as Sub-investigators on trials, and a clinical and business staff of 15, serving an active patient population of over 40,000.

ACR's team includes Sub-investigators who are Board Certified Physicians with specialties in cardiology, gastroenterology, internal medicine and pulmonology.

ACR is located in the Alexandria Professional Building, a 12-story medical office building that includes healthcare specialists in numerous fields, in Alexandria, Virginia.  The building is located less than a mile from Alexandria Hospital, a 318-bed community hospital.  Alexandria is part of the Washington metropolitan area which has an estimated population of 5.4 million.  The center is open on evenings and weekends to allow tremendous flexibility in scheduling study participant visits.  We are conveniently located near I-395, have a public bus stop near our building and have free parking.

Stephen M. Minton, MD, PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Dr. Stephen Minton was born in Mineral Wells, TX and raised in Fairfax County. He graduated from Langley High School and received his undergraduate degree as a Chemistry major at the University of Virginia in 1983. After working in a Charlottesville, Virginia psychiatric hospital for one year, he entered the University of Virginia School of Medicine and graduated in 1988. Dr. Minton completed his Internal Medicine internship and residency at the University of California, Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, CA in 1991 and worked as a staff physician for Kaiser Permanente before moving back home to Northern Virginia the following year.  He is one of the managing partners of Alexandria Primary Care Associates.  In his free time, Dr. Minton volunteers as a pilot transporting medical patients to distant cities for treatments they cannot get near their home towns.  Dr. Minton is a founding partner of ACR.

JENNIFER R. COMMANDER, CPA, MANAGING DIRECTOR

Ms. Commander is a founding partner of ACR and devotes much of her time to business development and operational oversight for the center.  Prior to establishing ACR, Ms. Commander was a Partner and Chief Financial Officer for Winston Partners Group, an investment firm specializing in managing hedge fund-of-fund portfolios, and was responsible for the oversight and management of the financial, accounting and operational aspects of the firm. She was previously the Controller, responsible for all accounting and reporting functions, for Global Environment Fund (GEF), a series of private equity funds with approximately $350 million of assets. Prior to GEF, she worked for Arthur Andersen, LLP as an Audit Manager in the Commercial and Finance Division. Ms. Commander received a B.B.A. degree in Accounting, summa cum laude, from The College of William and Mary.  She is a member of the Virginia Society of CPAs.

GIGI GUERRERO-WILLIS, CCRP, CLINICAL RESEARCH COORDINATOR

As the certified clinical research coordinator for ACR, Ms. Guerrero-Willis is responsible for the initiation and ongoing administration of all clinical trials.  She began her career in clinical research in 2001.  Ms. Guerrero-Willis has over 10 years of experience working on Phase II – IV studies concentrating on gastroenterology, cardiology, pain management, diabetes and oncology.  She has worked on industry sponsored studies as well as investigator initiated studies.  Ms. Guerrero-Willis received her Associate of Applied Science Degree in Nursing from Marymount University in 2002.  She is a member of The Society of Clinical Research Associates.

CHANTEL JENKINS, CLINICAL RESEARCH ASSISTANT

Ms. Jenkins assists ACR's clinical research coordinator with all aspects of the administration of clinical trials.  She received her Master of Science in Health Sciences in Clinical Research Administration from The George Washington University in 2008 and her Bachelor's of Science Degree in Biology with a minor in Business Administration, Pre-Medicine Program, from Charleston Southern University in 2005.