Our team of investigators has conducted over 100 clinical trials ranging from Phase I to Phase IV.
The physicians and nurse practitioners of Infectious Diseases Physicians, Inc. (IDP) are our investigative leaders and are directly affiliated with the CARE-ID organization. They work seamlessly with the staff to lead our clinical trial studies.
Together we have extensive experience working with both pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and government agencies. Our involvement in clinical research has played a critical role in the development of novel antibiotic and antiviral treatments as well as vaccine development.
Following all regulatory and clinical practice guidelines, we strive to ensure the safety and comfort of our study volunteers while generating quality data and reliable results.
Donald M. Poretz, MD, FACP, FIDSA
Dr. Poretz is one of the founding physicians of Infectious Diseases Physicians, Inc. (IDP), a private clinical practice located in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington D.C., devoted to the care of people with infectious diseases. He received his medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia (now Virginia Commonwealth University) where he also completed his internship, residency, and Infectious Diseases fellowship. He is board certified in both Internal Medicine and the subspecialty of Infectious Diseases. After serving for two years as a major in the United States Army Medical Corp, Dr. Poretz was appointed chief of the Infectious Diseases section at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Virginia from 1972 until 2001. He also served as the president of the medical staff of Inova Fairfax Hospital from 1985 to 1987. Since that time, he has been in the private practice of Infectious Diseases.
Dr. Poretz is a clinical professor of medicine at both Georgetown University and Virginia Commonwealth University schools of Medicine. In 2002, he was appointed to the Anti-Infective Advisory Committee of the FDA. Dr. Poretz is a Fellow of both the American College of Physicians (FACP) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (FIDSA). He has also served as President of both The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID). He is a member of: the American College of Physicians, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the American Medical Association, the Medical Society of Virginia, and the Greater Washington Infectious Diseases Society. Clinical Infectious Diseases Fellows at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) spend an outpatient training rotation with Dr. Poretz.
Dr. Poretz has published over seventy articles in such scholarly journals as: Infectious Diseases in Clinical Practice, International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, and Clinical Infectious Diseases. He is section editor of “Issues in Clinical Practice” for Infectious Diseases in Clinical Practice. His research interests include clinical studies on AIDS-related infections, new antimicrobials, vaccines and outpatient intravenous antibiotic therapy. More recently he has been an investigator for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Poretz is an invited lecturer and has presented his research findings at medical conferences nationally.
Dr. Poretz has received the Vicennial Medal from Georgetown University Medical School, The Inova Fairfax Hospital Pinnacle award for exceptional leadership in medical education, research and clinical medicine, Alumnus of the Year award from the Medical College of Virginia in 2011 and The Barry Strauch, MD Endowed Lecture Award at INOVA Department of Medicine. He has served as a consultant to the NFL on MRSA infections and was enshrined in the Leon G. Smith Infectious Diseases Institute Hall of Fame at St. Michael’s Medical Center in Newark, New Jersey. He is consistently voted by his peers as one of the outstanding Infectious Diseases physicians, as published in The Washingtonian Magazine, Northern Virginia Magazine and The Best Doctors in America. He was awarded the “Clinician of the Year” in 2004 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America and received the John P. Utz leadership award from the National Foundation for infectious disease in 2007.
David A. Wheeler, MD, FACP, FIDSA
Dr. Wheeler is the president and managing partner of Infectious Diseases Physicians, Inc. (IDP). He received his medical degree from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA in 1982. He completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Colorado in 1983, and his Infectious Diseases fellowship at the University of Maryland in 1991. He is fluent in Spanish and spent four years as an internist in Puerto Rico as a part of the National Health Service Corps. He has been in the private practice of Infectious Diseases care in Northern Virginia since 1996.
Dr. Wheeler is a fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP), a fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (FIDSA), and a member of the International AIDS Society. He is also an Associate Professor of Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University. He works in the hospital, office, post-acute and clinical research settings. Within the specialty of infectious diseases, he has a particular interest in the treatment of chronic viral infections, including HIV and hepatitis. He has been a leader in HIV treatment in the Washington metropolitan area for the last 20 years.
Dr. Wheeler is an invited lecturer and consultant in Latin America and Africa as well as the United States, and he has publications in numerous journals including: Infectious Diseases in Clinical Practice, Clinical Infectious Diseases, Journal of the American Medical Association, and Journal of AIDS.
Malika Welborn, MSN, FNP-BC, NP-C
Malika joined our CARE-ID team in late 2022 as an experienced medical practitioner and clinical researcher. In addition to the research experience she gained with CVS Clinical Trial Services during 2022, she is board certified as a nurse practitioner and experienced in independently assessing and managing the health care needs of patients with a diversity of medical conditions.
Malika began her career in healthcare by completing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing at the American Sentinel University, Aurora, Colorado in 2015. She furthered her nursing expertise when she was awarded a Master of Nursing Practice-Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) degree from George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia in 2019.
Malika is a familiar presence having worked at Infectious Diseases Physicians, Inc. (IDP) supporting patients receiving IV infusion therapy care from 2015 to 2019 and as a nurse practitioner for infectious diseases patient care from 2019 to 2021. During this period she also provided periodic support for CARE-ID research studies involving crossover IDP patients. Malika’s broad patient care experiences together with her clinical research knowledge enable her to provide clinical study related subject screening, enrollment and follow-up care; investigational product management accountability, preparation, and administration; and all levels of clinical documentation and data entry.
Steve Poretz, RN, MSHA, MBA
Chief Operating Officer
Steve oversees the execution of CARE-ID clinical trials from start to finish, as well as the overall progression and diversification of studies. He is also responsible for the financial and data integrity of the company. Steve received his Bachelor of Science degree in Health Promotions from the University of Lynchburg, a nursing degree from Marymount University, and a dual master’s degree (MSHA, MBA) from Marymount’s School of Business Health Administration Department.
Steve joined CARE-ID in 2010 during the period that HIV research advanced combination tablets and long-acting antiretrovirals. Since that time, he has overseen the diversification of new infectious diseases studies, including vaccine clinical trials for: Staph Aureus, Clostridium Difficile, and COVID-19. He has also been active in attracting studies for the advancement of medical treatments in the areas of: COVID-19, Clostridium Difficile, bone and joint infections, Hepatitis and HIV. Prior to joining CARE-ID, Steve employed his clinical skills in the emergency department, the intensive care unit, and with a private medical practice.
Amma Appiah-Asantewaa, BS, MPP
Research Manager
Since joining CARE-ID in 2012, Amma has been an exceptional member of the team. Her dedication has delivered outstanding coordination for comprehensive study participant education, data collection, lab specimen processing, and regulatory documentation from study start-up to completion. She has been the lead coordinator for clinical trial processes involving HIV, hepatitis, clostridium difficile, vaccine trials, and COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics.
Amma’s broad experience in clinical research began in 1996 in Ghana and was further extended as a result of her involvement with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and breast cancer research. Her clinical trial experience led to a position as a patient navigator for the D.C. Cancer Consortium (Washington, D.C.) to assist patients requiring guidance through the healthcare system. Amma received her Bachelor of Science degree in Legon, Ghana and her Master’s in Public Policy from Pepperdine University School of Public Policy.
T. Nguyen, BS, MPH
Clinical Research Coordinator (CRC)
T joined the CARE-ID team as a CRC during 2021 in support of clinical vaccine development. She assists the research team working on Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine studies with study participant education, data collection, lab specimen processing, and patient interviews. As the number and variety of new clinical trials increase, she will be heavily involved in regulatory submissions, study participant visits, and data collection.
She completed her Masters of Public Health degree at George Mason University and received her Bachelor of Science degree in Health Sciences from Virginia Commonwealth University. During her time in Richmond, she worked on research in diabetes intervention, e-cigarette smoking cessation, and pediatric bone cancer genetics. She previously worked for the Fairfax County Health Department’s COVID-19 emergency response team as a case interviewer, where she helped contact and trace all positive COVID-19 cases within Fairfax County, educated patients, and assisted with emergency resource distribution. Her prior experience also includes assisting with research at Fairfax Hospital’s Trauma Research Department interviewing patients and their families on their provider experiences.