Center for the History of Family Medicine Oral History Research Grant

Family physician Alexis Ramos, MD, was awarded a grant by the AAFP Foundation’s Center for the History of Family Medicine (CHFM) to create an oral history of how COVID-19 affected patients and providers in her community — a subject about which she’s passionate.

After completing her residency at UT Health San Antonio in 2023, Ramos joined the faculty. The following year, she spotted an Instagram post about the CHFM’s Oral History Research Grant and was immediately intrigued.

“I started residency in 2020, back when COVID was rampant and they didn’t know if it was airborne or transmitted through contact,” Ramos said. “So being an intern during that time — when you’re just trying to figure out the EMR and where you’re at, and people are saying, ‘Thank goodness you’re here; we need help’ — was overwhelming but rewarding.”

UT Health San Antonio cares for an underserved population with unique challenges and disparities, which impacted caregiving during the pandemic.

“For example, telemedicine was a big thing, but our population didn’t really have access to it. We were trying to do phone visits and our older population didn’t know how, so we had to be creative in how we provided care,” Ramos said.

She added, “I was in awe of how we came together as a community to overcome these barriers.” Later, when she heard about the grant, Ramos thought, “This needs to be recorded and shared in an archive.”

Ramos interviewed 15 providers comprising community health workers, behavioral health consultants, residents and attendings from that time. She will look for any overarching themes or qualitative data that emerge from her research, then weave their stories into a documentary film.

The CHFM grant of nearly $3,000 covered filming equipment, recording devices and other technology, plus a modest honorarium for participation. While CHFM staff offered support to Ramos throughout, they also gave her the freedom to navigate the project on her own, which allowed her to expand her skills.

Ramos is using her project to teach her students at Long School of Medicine about grants, oral history and the specialty of family medicine. Previously, she had limited exposure to oral history as a form. Exploring the CHFM’s archives gave Ramos an appreciation for the power of capturing the voices of people who experienced a particular era or aspect of family medicine.

“Family medicine has so many different stories from patients, because we see them longitudinally,” she said. “Sometimes they open up to us first as primary care providers.”

Ramos encourages others to apply for the grant and pick a topic that strongly interests them. She advises asking mentors and practice leaders what’s special about the patients they serve or the expertise they provide.