{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/9882j6b451/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Dr. Ada Stewart"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/246/original/CenterForHistoryFamilyMedicine_2c_RGB.png?1773344256","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eThis item is protected by U.S. copyright and related rights. It is being made available by the Center for the History of Family Medicine as its rights-holder for noncommercial use, including sharing and adapting the work. No permission is required for noncommercial use so long as attribution is provided. All other uses require permission from the Center for the History of Family Medicine.  Disclaimer:  The views presented in this broadcast are the speaker’s own and do not represent those of CHFM or the AAFP Foundation. The information presented is for general, educational, or entertainment purposes and should not be considered legal, health, financial, or other advice. \u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["2022-05-02 (created)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Type"]},"value":{"en":["Oral History"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":["Crystal Bauer (Interviewer)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Format"]},"value":{"en":["video"]}},{"label":{"en":["Keyword"]},"value":{"en":["American Academy of Family Physicians","family physician","family medicine"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject"]},"value":{"en":["Ada Stewart, MD (personal name)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English (primary)"]}}],"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eThis item is protected by U.S. copyright and related rights. It is being made available by the Center for the History of Family Medicine as its rights-holder for noncommercial use, including sharing and adapting the work. No permission is required for noncommercial use so long as attribution is provided. All other uses require permission from the Center for the History of Family Medicine. \u0026nbsp;Disclaimer: \u0026nbsp;The views presented in this broadcast are the speaker\u0026rsquo;s own and do not represent those of CHFM or the AAFP Foundation. The information presented is for general, educational, or entertainment purposes and should not be considered legal, health, financial, or other advice.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Center for the History of Family Medicine"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Center for the History of Family Medicine"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/246/original/CenterForHistoryFamilyMedicine_2c_RGB.png?1773344256","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/288/300/small/STEWARTADA%285-2-22%29.mp4_1755700854.jpg?1755700855","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2195/collection_resources/158021/file/288300","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - STEWART_ADA_(5-2-22).mp4"]},"duration":3535.28,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/288/300/small/STEWARTADA%285-2-22%29.mp4_1755700854.jpg?1755700855","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2195/collection_resources/158021/file/288300/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2195/collection_resources/158021/file/288300/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/288/300/original/STEWART_ADA_%285-2-22%29.mp4?1755700854","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":3535.28,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2195/collection_resources/158021/file/288300","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2195/collection_resources/158021/file/288300/transcript/83172","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Dr. Ada Stewart interview transcript [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2195/collection_resources/158021/file/288300/transcript/83172/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Crystal Bauer: Good morning. I am Crystal Bauer, manager for the Center for the History of Family Medicine, and I am pleased to have the honor and privilege of interviewing Dr. Ada Stewart as part of our oral history project.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Welcome, Ada.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: Thank you. Thank you so much, and thank you again for this opportunity.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Sure. Well, I'd like to start off with you telling us a little bit about your early childhood, who your parents were, what it was like growing up for you.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: Okay. I was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. My parents, sadly, are no longer with us today. They passed away due to preventable illnesses, so one of the reasons that I am a family physician today. My dad was Herschel and my mom Mary. I'm the first physician. My dad actually was a employee of a catering service, and my mom was what we now call as a homemaker. She stayed at home. It was a difficult time for myself and my siblings. We grew up in a housing project, but I had wonderful teachers that helped guide me and helped me to see that there was a much better life ahead for me.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: That's pretty much my childhood, and I'm just blessed to have had the experiences that I had growing up because it really helped shape me into the individual who I am today.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Would you say that your teachers were really impactful in motivating you to go on to college? Were there any other role models that you had when you were younger?\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: It's funny, when we think about role models, I could probably say I didn't have necessarily role models because of how we usually define role models, as someone who we look up, to inspire to be, but I had individuals who inspired me, who really influenced me, my teachers. I had a wonderful chemistry teacher who I still speak to today. Actually, her and her husband were coming through South Carolina last year after I had gotten elected, well, after I had gotten installed as president, and I had the opportunity to really thank her, to thank her for helping me to be part of... for them to be part of my journey, her and her husband. Both were teachers, but she brought in a pharmacist to our chemistry class. She was my chemistry teacher.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: With that, I would say that maybe that individual, that pharmacist that she brought into our class was probably what I would maybe define now as my role model because that's who I looked to becoming at that time in high school. It was to become a pharmacist. I had never seen a physician as far as a role model was concerned. We did not go to the doctor's office unless we gotten ill. Most of the time, we went to the emergency room. I think about what Dr. Joycelyn Elders once said. You really can't be what you don't see, and so it's important that we see individual who look like us, who we can think about individuals that we can become later on.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Sure. Sure. Moving on to your undergraduate education, could you speak a little to where you went to college, your major in college and what your hope was for your career after graduating?\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: All right. I attended Ohio Northern University. It is in a small town named Ada like my first name, so in Ada, Ohio. I was there as a pharmacy student. My major was pharmacy, as I mentioned just previously that I wanted to become a pharmacist, because of that pharmacist that came to our chemistry class who was part of the community who talked about the impact that he had within the area in which I lived there in Cleveland, Ohio, in the inner city. He was an individual of color, and so I wanted to hopefully become a pharmacist and get my own drugs store and serve the community in which I lived. That was my plan early on.\n\nCrystal Bauer: After graduating from college, you worked as a pharmacist for 10 years prior to going back to medical school. Is that correct?\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: Yes. Yes. Yeah, and I actually had the opportunity to continue to work as a pharmacist during my medical school years initially. I attended what... Well, it was called the Medical College of Ohio. They're in Toledo, Ohio. It has since been renamed to the University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences and, of course, is still there in Toledo.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: When I initially went to medical school, it was with the idea that I wanted to become a family physician, and that was because, while I was working in the retail setting as a pharmacist, I was able to really connect with people, not what we call customers or consumers, but I call them patients and friends, and I realized even with the things that went on with my life, with my mom and my dad... My mom passed away due to breast cancer, and it was a late diagnosis. Again, as I mentioned earlier, we did not regularly see a physician, so her diagnosis was when it was already too late. We see that in many women of color, late diagnosis of breast cancers and other medical conditions, and my dad passed away due to heart disease.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: Those things really had a bearing on me as I worked as a pharmacist, but then I came across an article in our local newspaper. It was like a Sunday newspaper, and they had this huge article that talked about a family physician who looked like me, who talked about all the things that I was thinking about, caring for the mental, the physical, the spiritual wellbeing of individuals, being one to help with prevention, helping to recognize the importance of screening for breast cancers and other cancers and things like that, and I said, \"This should be my calling. This is what I want to do.\"\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: After seeing that article, I thought about it and I said, \"I've been out for a long time. Could I actually accomplish this goal in becoming a family physician?\" It took a lot of thought, a lot of, I would say, really giving up on a very wonderful career as a pharmacist and then thinking about the fact that I probably needed to go back and take a lot of courses over again such as physical, physics, biology, chemistry, because it had been so long since I had been out and I would have needed to take the MCAT. It was a challenging time, but I felt that this was my calling. As we look to medicine, it is definitely a calling. As a physician it was... Family medicine was my calling. Yeah. Yeah.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Yeah. Well, you attended medical school in Ohio and then you went on to a family medicine residency in South Carolina. What made you decide to go there?\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: Yes. Funny enough, Ohio is very cold, it's dreary. The fact that my parents were gone, I just had my sister, and my brother is still alive, and many other family members were gone, I felt that it was an opportunity for me to really grow as a person to move somewhere that was nicer as far as weather was concerned. I only interviewed in warm places, oddly enough, except for one interview there in Ohio, but the rest were in areas that were very warm and sunny.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: The great thing was the residency here in Columbia, South Carolina, felt very welcoming. Because I was coming here alone with no family, I ended up meeting someone at one of our family medicine I served on a commission as a student who actually was a member of the commission. She lived here in South Carolina, and so I was able to talk to her about what it was like living in Columbia, South Carolina. I chose this residency program here, and it was my first choice, and I was successful in being able to match here. It was a great opportunity for me to move away and actually serve another community.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: My plan initially was to actually go back to Cleveland to practice in the inner city. I was a National Health Service Corps scholar, and I felt that it was really important for me to serve the community in which I grew up, but things happen for a reason, and I was able to continue to serve a community that was of need here in South Carolina after residency, so all things worked.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Are there any stories from your residency that you would want to share or experiences that were important?\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: I would say that the greatest thing and one of the stories is, during family medicine residency, we have the opportunity to rotate through many other specialties and to care longitudinally for patients. Most of the patients, and when I think about those times that I had as a resident, I am still seeing those same individual. Kids that I delivered during my family-medicine-OB rotation, I'm still caring for those individuals, and that really means a lot, and they still, when they come in, say, \"Oh, my goodness, I remember when.\" Individuals that I even met during my surgery rotation that were... I still have two patients that I cared for while I did a trauma time who were in a bad way during that time, and they're doing quite well now, but I'm still seeing them as patients.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: We talk about the importance of being part of the community, and I felt that as a resident within the community which I'm now serving. It really shows the importance of that and how you're able to become part of that community, to be a part of these families. I'm a godmother to one of the babies I delivered. Those are great stories where parents say that they felt so connected to you that they asked you to be the godmother to their child. That really means a lot.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Sure. It really shows the beauty of family medicine as a specialty. Well, switching gears a little bit, I want to talk about your military service. Could you talk to me about why you decided to enlist in the military?\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: Yes. For many years prior to attending medical school, I always thought about what it would be like to serve our country, and then 9/11/2001 happened, and I felt a burning desire to really do something. Many of us remember what we were doing that dreadful Tuesday morning. My thought was, if I have the opportunity to serve, I would definitely raise my hand and do so. We had recruiters that were coming around during residency, I was in residency at this time, and asked that who would want to actually sign up. Of course, I raised my hand. I was honored to be able to join although I was a more mature individual, a little older than many, but it was also my opportunity for me to be able to serve my country.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: It provided a couple other things. We think about the military as a way to really groom leaders. For those reasons, it's been a wonderful experience. I thought that I would only stay in for maybe six or eight years, do my commitment because also I was able to take care of some of my medical debt in joining the military, and here I am 20 years later still in and now a colonel.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: I have no desire at this point to retire from the military unless they decide that it's time for me to leave, but it's been a wonderful experience. I tell you, it really helps you to grow as an individual and as a leader and to be able to travel all over the country if you so choose.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Yes. Touching on that a little bit, you are in the United States Army Reserves. Could you talk about some of your various posts, especially your foreign posts?\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: Yes. Yes. Yes. I have had the opportunity to serve in Kuwait, which was a combat zone. It was a combat zone at that time. I also served in Landstuhl, Germany. When I was in Landstuhl, that was right at the beginning of the war in Iraq. I did not go to Iraq, but we were able to care for those individuals who were returning injured from that particular battleground.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: It was a wonderful opportunity to really provide that necessary care as a family physician. While I was there, I was able to care for our soldiers to do those initial exams prior to individuals coming stateside, to care for families that were also impacted that they had to uproot and go with their family members overseas. It was a wonderful opportunity for myself.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: In addition, I was able to meet many friends. I tell you, our military, especially I would say our medical corps, we tend to travel in the same circle, so I have seen individuals over the years that I served with in various stations stateside or when I was in Kuwait also or in Germany. For family docs, we're all family and all friends, and I would say the same for the military, so it's been a great opportunity, again, to serve those who continue to serve our country and to care for them and to care for their families also.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Sure. Well, switching gears yet again, I'd love to focus on your career and family medicine outside of the military. Could you speak a little bit about what the world of medicine and family medicine was like when you finished your residency?\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: When I think about how family medicine was when I finished, the one thing that comes to mind is that we were still fighting for payment reform. Payment was a huge issue and a huge concern. We were always talking about the SGR and repealing it and how best can we care for our family docs. It was more about the family doc not necessarily being able to do all the things that we wanted to do, but fighting for our identity.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: We continue to fight for our identity right now. The world has not changed much. We have repealed the SGR, but we're still trying to make sure that we are paid for what we do. We're still trying to encourage value-based payment reform and not necessarily volume. Back then, it was all about how many patients can you see. You get paid better when you see more individuals and not necessarily for the value and for the quality of care that you're providing. That's how I think about things when I finish residency. A lot has changed, but a lot of things are still there and even more as we deal with administrative burden at this time.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Sure. What was your first position out of residency?\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: I am still with the same office that I joined after residency with a little name changes. I was able to secure a National Health Service Corps repayment program at a community health center. At that time, it was called Richland Community Health Center. With many organizations, you end up in financial difficulty, so, within 10 years, we ended up losing our federal funding. Thankfully enough, we had another community health center within the city that took over our practice, and we had to pretty much restart all over again, but I was able to stay in the same office. They took over as owners. I was able to continue to see the same patients in the same facility.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: I feel like I have been here since residency even though the name has changed, but the patients have not. That's been a blessing, to remain with the same organization, with the same patients. I was initially at our rural site at the majority of my time, but now it's flipped. I'm more at our urban center and I still spend time at two of our rural offices, so I'm also able to provide care in both environments which has been a blessing for me.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Sure. In your role, it seems like you've really focused on HIV medicine as well as hospice care. Why have those two areas been a focus for you?\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: I'll talk about HIV first. That was something that really came about based on the needs of the community. At our downtown urban site, we had individuals who were providing HIV care, but they left for, I would say, greener pastures, if you want to look at it that way, and so it left a void. We still had those patients that needed to be cared for, and so I took on the ... Again, it talks about the flexibility and adaptability of family physicians. I said that, \"I can do this. I can care for these individuals.\"\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: It took a lot of learning. We didn't at that time have a lot of education around HIV care. It was almost looked upon as a specialty, and so it took, for me, making sure that I read up and attended all the CMEs that were available to be able to care for individuals living with HIV, and then something happened. One of my close family members was diagnosed with HIV, and I felt that it encouraged me to do more in that. Again, this is where I need to be because of the way that things were at that time, and I said, \"I need to be able to care for individuals living with HIV.\" That really, I would say, put a stamp more on the impact that I could have with the community and also with individuals living with HIV, so that's how I ended up in that space and continue to do this.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: We still are struggling with stigma, discrimination when we look at individuals living with HIV. We need more of us out here caring for individuals that are living with HIV as we see the growing population of folks who are impacted by HIV and also prevention, and then, when we talk about hospice, I ended up getting into the hospice space because of the thoughts of my family members who I lost early on and the fact that, in African-American communities, we don't use hospice enough, and part of that is because you don't have individuals that look like you, that you feel that you can trust.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: There's still a lot of distrust and mistrust within the African-American communities not only with hospice care, but with medical care in general, and so I felt that I could really be an influence in encouraging individuals to look at hospice care and the importance of having someone to care for you so that the quality of life and the quality of death is of highest importance and ensuring that that's done.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: I was able to, through my work as a hospice medical director, to talk to many families who, otherwise, probably would have not even thought about looking at hospice care. Many of my family members, in addition to families that I cared for, when you talked about hospice, it was, \"Oh, you're trying to kill my family member.\" Having that trust that I had already garnered within my community really gave me an opportunity to help my community again and to help individuals who I came in contact with.\n\nCrystal Bauer: You've had various leadership positions over the years. Could you describe for us your style of leadership and your philosophy on management and how that's developed over the years?\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: Oh, my goodness. When I think about my style, my philosophy of leadership, I always think about the fact that I feel that I am a servant-leader. I'm here to serve first and being humble, trying to inspire others and, definitely, to lead by example. As a leader within the military, we have core values that we try to adhere to, and all of those come back to what I try to do as a civilian and in my personal life and, that is, really being that trusted individual to lead by others, to motivate others to rise, help them who raise up to be the best they can be.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: I think that that's basically my style is that of service first, and one of the reasons why I'm still in the military. It's all about service. I say that, for myself, it's important for me to serve my family, serve my God, serve my community and serve the country and also to serve my specialty. When I think about my philosophy and also my style of leadership, it's all about service.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Well, on that same topic of leadership, I want to talk about your roles, your leadership roles with the AMA and the AAFP as well as the South Carolina AAFP. Could we start first with talking about your experiences with the American Medical Association? How did you get involved with them?\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: Yes. Yes. My leadership with the AMA actually started on the student side. I was active as a student. I became involved, which was then called the Minority Issues Forum, and it was at that time that I actually met a wonderful doctor, Dr. Regina Benjamin, and others who were family docs. Dr. Warren Jones, I actually met him during that time as a student.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: It's funny, when I look back, as I served on the Minority Issues committee and then later on as the Minority Affairs Consortium, I think about what Dr. Warren Jones said to me, and I always remind him of this. He said, \"You're going to be a mover and a shaker,\" and I said, \"Really?\" I tell him, I say, \"Do you remember when you said that to me?\" because he's always inspiring individuals.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: My time there helped to build, again, on my leadership skills. It gave me the opportunity to really be that voice of change. Testifying before the House delegates and as a student and being part of the underrepresented minority groups within that organization helped me to continue to do so as I look towards being part of AAFP, and this really help shape me and help gear me towards being more vocal within my specialty organization.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Yes. Speaking of the AAFP and the South Carolina AAFP, which one did you decide to get involved with first, or were you involved with both first? How did that take place?\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: Yeah. They were both pretty much on this... had the same trajectory, but I branched off more with the AAFP, of course, and I was able to do both. I was able to be the AMA delegate, the AAFP delegate to the AMA. They both coincided, and it was just a great opportunity.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: I tell you, for our specialty, I talk to students. We are the only, one of the only I would say, specialty to really embrace students and the student voice. As a student, I was able to do many things within our AAFP in addition to the AMA, so both of them were pretty much... had the same trajectory, but I did more with our AAFP than I did with the AMA.\n\nCrystal Bauer: You hold the prestigious title of being the first black woman to become president of the AAFP. What made you decide to get involved with the board of the AAFP?\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: Yes, so what an honor. I tell, being the first, that means there would be the second and the third and et cetera, et cetera, but it was really important for me to be the voice of change, and so that's why I chose to be a leader and then recognizing how important it was to really have a seat at the table. Being on the board gave me opportunity, and also being the first African-American female president really gave me a platform, too, now, as we talk about diversity, equity, inclusiveness and anti-racism.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: All these things happened while I was on the board and as a leader and, before me, having Dr. Gary LeRoy as the president. I would say the stars align for a reason, and God puts you in places for a reason, and I really feel that all these things happen for a reason, to help our academy really to be the great academy that we have always strived to be, to really show its diversity and show how inclusive we are. It just speaks volumes for who we are as an academy, for who we are as a specialty.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: For me to have been elected, for Dr. LeRoy to be elected and Dr. Warren Jones going way back, it just really speaks to who we are and where we're going, and then, looking at our future and looking at our board now and our president elect now and others coming behind her, it really shows us how important these issues are to our academy and how we really reflect the community in which we all serve.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Could you speak about your goals as AAFP president, what they were?\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: Yeah. Yeah. One was definitely to address many of the issues that we are all faced with. I spoke of this as I came into my presidency year. Number one was to really address administrative burden. We still have a long way to go with that particular issue, and then the second really was to elevate the voice of family physicians, to show our communities what we do, and we were able to do this with the pandemic.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: Folks didn't know what family medicine was all about, but when we were able to shift on a dime and really be flexible with our skills and go from the ER to in-person and in-patient settings, work in the unit, in the ICUs and just... We were able to do it all. We need to really have an opportunity to show what family physicians are all about. We're still working on this. The NASEM report really talked about the importance of primary care, and so as I move throughout my last few years as a leader of this... the last three months, not years... last three months of my role as board chair, to continue to define our specialty.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: As Mr. Martin continues to say, with crisis comes opportunity. Again, this is an opportunity for us to really showcase what family medicine is all about. In doing so, hopefully, we'll be able to increase student choice, increase the opportunities for students to look at this specialty for the great specialty that it is and to encourage more individuals to choose this wonderful specialty, and third is to really recognize how we can and how we should continue to elevate our work towards diversity, equity, inclusiveness and anti-racism within our specialty.\n\nCrystal Bauer: As a family physician, you have been very active in both the AAFP and the AMA, as we've talked about. What key differences do you see between the role and function of these two national medical organizations?\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: I look at the AMA, and it's great that now we have a family physician who's leading that organization and a good friend of mine, Dr. Gerald Harmon from South Carolina. I want to mention that. There is a difference. Right now, we are pretty much on the same trajectory as far as recognizing the importance of the house of medicine.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: For family physicians, we focus more on the things that we do best, and that is caring for the whole community. From vaccines to caring for acute, chronic care, prevention, we have a little bit of everything, and we do it all well versus our AMA. It's almost fragmented. There's different specialties, and so they're focused on, I would say, the full house of medicine. We have some differences, but we also have many of the same goals, and that is to improve the care for our patients, our communities and also to make sure that our physicians are taken care of and making sure that we ensure that we're able to do what we do best, and that's caring for our communities and caring for our patients, although we focus more on the holistic part of medicine and looking at mental health, spiritual wellbeing, physical health and all those things.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: The AMA is more focused on each specialty, but we still have many of the same and goals. When we look at the fact that you have a leader who is a family physician on the AMA and then myself, who's a past president now, we are able to come together to improve the healthcare of our communities, and, to do so, it really helps us to really assist with caring for our communities, ensuring that the healthcare of our nation is of the higher quality. What a great time that we have to really elevate our specialty right now with having two leaders that are family physicians of two large organizations.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Absolutely. Well, moving on to more of the philosophical part of our interview as well as looking to the future, I want to just start out with COVID-19. You spoke briefly about the pandemic and how it impacted your presidency, but what lessons have you learned from COVID-19?\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: I would say one of the huge lessons that I've learned and many others is how adaptable and how flexible and how resilient family physicians are. We came together and we were really able to change what could have been even worse outcomes by us being able to step up to the plate. We did, unfortunately, lose some of our physicians either via contracting COVID or just from the stress and the burnout that impacted many of us, also, seeing many physicians having or choosing to retire because of the stress that was placed upon them dealing with COVID, but we were able to adapt. We were able to work together.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: Our academy was unbelievably helpful in making sure that we had all the resources that we needed to be able to deal with this pandemic, but, again, the biggest thing that came out of this is that family physicians are the most resilient, most adaptable, flexible individuals. We are the best specialty that there is because we were able to step in and really provide a much needed help during this pandemic. The sad part is, again, when the vaccines rolled out, we were the last on the totem pole to be able to get access to those, but, once we did, the numbers of individuals who were able to get vaccinated just shot up.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: We also was able to show how we are that trusted resource. As family physicians, we're that trusted resource for our patients, for our communities. Those things really helped us to highlight who we are, and those are great lessons that I learned from this pandemic and I think that many others learned, but it also shows us how much work we have to do to continue to elevate our specialty and to show that primary care needs to be, as the NASEM report says, needs to be viewed as a common good.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Well, that leads into my next question to you, which is what direction does family medicine need to take in the next decade and, also, what actions should the AAFP be taking?\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: Yes. We need to continue to fight for our specialty. We need to address administrative burden in whatever shape or form that one is experiencing. Just this past weekend, we had individuals who really let us know that there's different things that are burdensome administratively to each and every one of us. Sometimes, it could be the impact of prior authorizations or could just be trying to maneuver through the EMR.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: All those things really play havoc on us as physicians, on us as family physicians, and we need to continue to fight for improving and reducing the amount of administrative burden that we are dealing with. In addition, we need to make sure that we work towards payment and loan repayments for individuals who are seeking to choose family medicine, and so there's a lot of work that we need to do moving forward. We need to elevate our profession. We need to elevate our specialty.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: As I said earlier, with crises come opportunity. The pandemic was a crisis. We also have the crisis of racism, and these are opportunities for us to really shine as a family medicine, as a specialty of family medicine, and we need to use these opportunities to really define who we are. This gives us a perfect time to do so, and we need to make sure that we continue to come together and work for what is important to us, and that is caring for our patients, caring for our community and also caring for each other.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Are there any views on important issues in the specialty that we've not addressed yet in this interview that you would like to share with us?\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: The one thing that I would like to share with many individuals is that we need to also continue to address mental health and not only for our patients, but also for ourselves. That's something that, moving forward, we need to address and really take care of each other, take care of our patients. We need to work towards payment reform as far as integration of behavioral health within primary care, and also address physician wellbeing. We can't continue on the trajectory that we're heading with so much administrative burden, so much upon us. This is something that we need to continue to focus on in addition to all those other issues that I mentioned earlier.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Switching gears a little bit, what has your biggest satisfaction been from working in medicine these years?\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: Oh, my goodness, I would say the biggest satisfaction is caring for patients, being part of their health and well-being, being part of their lives. As a family doc, I have to say that I'm able to be part of their family, to be a noted family member and being part of the community and, as one says, that brings me joy. That brings me joy every day. It helps me when I'm tired and frustrated, but when I see that patient that we sit down, and we just don't talk about what's ailing them, but also what's going on in their family, what's going on in their lives. I usually start all my visits with, \"How are you doing? What's going on? What's new,\" and not necessarily, \"What's hurting?\" We'll move to all of that, but just... and those are the things that bring me joy and brings me satisfaction.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Sure. Well, you mentioned a few people over the years who've touched your life, Warren Jones, Regina Benjamin. Are there other people who have most touched you over the years, and could you speak to how maybe they've impacted you?\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: Yeah. There's many, and I would hate to start naming folks because I may forget someone, but outside of the house of medicine and every individual that I have encountered, our numerous former presidents and board members and just friends of mine throughout the years as I have been involved with our academy and also, I want to say, with the AMA, but there's two teachers that really come to mind.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: We don't give teachers enough credit, but, as I mentioned earlier, my chemistry teacher in high school, Ms. [Nakli","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2195/collection_resources/158021/file/288300#t=0.0,3093.0"},{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2195/collection_resources/158021/file/288300/transcript/83172/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"], who really had... She really influenced me and helped me to realize that I can do more than just be part of the housing project and that there was much more than I can inspire to do, and then there was my junior high school teacher, Ms. Baker. I tell you, this individual, because like I say, I grew up in a housing project and we really didn't have anything and I didn't have any real role models, but she would come and pick me up and take me and just drive me around to the suburbs, would take me on trips to basketball games because I played basketball, believe or not, when I was in high school and tried to play in college, but I didn't make the team, but just try to encourage me. She would always say that you don't have to stay here if you work hard and if just study hard, that you can get out of this environment.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: I never forget those days that she continued to talk to me about what I can do and what I can accomplish as I got older. She pretty much instilled the dreams in me that continue to this day and showing me different places where I can maybe live other than living in a housing project. Those things stuck with me as I grew up, and it helped me to really inspire to do much more and to do more for my community. It's not about me. It's about my community. It's the people who I have the honor of serving and of caring for.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Well, my last question to you is, looking towards the future, what will we be seeing you do next? What are your goals for yourself and family medicine in the next few years?\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: Oh, my goodness, you have to start thinking about this [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2195/collection_resources/158021/file/288300#t=3093.0,3252.0"},{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2195/collection_resources/158021/file/288300/transcript/83172/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] say what, but I am honored. I'm really honored to have the opportunity now to serve as the inaugural chair of our new commission, the commission on diversity, equity and inclusiveness in family medicine. I will be busy chairing that new commission with some wonderful folks and looking forward to what we can do to really elevate our academy in this space and then looking, as I look towards the future, doing more work in addressing stigma and discrimination and doing work within the HIV space.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: I'm a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS and looking forward to doing more work within that advisory council and also helping to educate our future generations towards addressing gender-affirming care issues and also caring for individuals living with HIV. Those, in addition to my equity work, are things that go together, but that's where I see myself in the next couple of years, focusing more on those particular items and issues.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Well, before we wrap up this interview, I'd like to ask are there any last thoughts that you would like to add? This is your opportunity to share your thoughts with future generations listening to this or set the record straight on anything you feel might be important to address.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: Oh, my goodness, so the only thing, as I look to future generations, it's really important to create your own future. Help us create our future as a specialty of family medicine. There is a lot of work that we need to do towards our specialty in improving and recognizing how important the specialty of family medicine is. The future is now. This is our time to really, again, elevate our future, to show even during this pandemic how we were able to really turn on a dime, to be adaptable, to be that trusted resource for our patients. It's important as we move forward to be part of our communities in which we live and care for those patients that we care for.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: I have been honored and so blessed to have served this academy... I'm getting a little emotional... to serve this academy as a leader. It is the best specialty that there is, and I'm not just saying that because I am a family physician, but it is. It is the best specialty, and we have the best physicians working within our space. We really need to encourage more students, more individuals who are just looking for what is their future going to be like and recognizing how important it is to be a family physician and how it is important to be a part of this organization.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: Again, it's been an honor to serve, and I will continue to serve in a different way, and thank you. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to give this interview. I'm just looking forward to the future. The future is now. We have the opportunity, as Shawn Martin always says, to really predict our future and to show us the way for family medicine moving forward.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Well, Ada, thank you so much for giving us this opportunity to learn more about your life and everything that you've done so much for family medicine, for your patient, for the AAFP. We just thank you so much, really appreciate it.\n\nAda D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP: Thank you.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2195/collection_resources/158021/file/288300#t=3252.0,3535.28"}]},{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2195/collection_resources/158021/file/288300/transcript/83173","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Interview Summary [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2195/collection_resources/158021/file/288300/transcript/83173/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Interviewee: Ada Steward, MD, FAACP\n\nInterviewer: Crystal Bauer\n\nDate: May 2, 2022\n\nOn a timeline, it is easy to trace Dr. Ada Steward’s life. It began as a child in a Cleveland, Ohio, housing project. Then came pharmacy school and medical school which propelled her into careers. She added even more involvement by joining the U. S. Army Reserves. Her leadership skills were further honed in the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). Yes, this list is impressive. But even more inspiring are her reasons for choosing to work in medicine for so many years.\n\nShe explains, “My biggest satisfactions are caring for patients and being part of their lives…as a pharmacist (for 10 years) in a retail setting, I was able to really connect with patients and friends.” \n\nThen as a National Health Service Corps scholar during medical school, she felt an even greater desire to serve and connect with a community. Consequently, she joined the Richland Community Health Center in Columbia, South Carolina. Since her family medicine residency, she has remained with the same organization and the same patients serving them in rural and urban centers. “It’s been a blessing,” she says. Here she has been able to focus on HIV medicine and hospice care based on the needs of the community. As a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, she hopes to do more about addressing the stigma and discrimination associated with the disease. \n\nWhen 9/11/2001 happened, Dr. Steward felt a “burning desire…to serve my country.” Twenty years later, she is still serving with the rank of colonel in the Army Reserves. Her enlistment has taken her to a combat zone in Kuwait and to Landstuhl, Germany, at the start of the Iraq War. \n\nAs she discusses her style of leadership, Dr. Steward clearly states, “I am a servant-leader…to motivate others to rise…to be the best they can be.”\n\nBoth the AMA and the AAFP have greatly benefitted from her leadership. While a medical student, she served on the AMA’s Minority Affairs Consortium and testified before the U.S. House of Representatives’ delegates. She continued her involvement with the AMA by serving as an AAFP delegate. One of her most prestigious titles has been the first black woman to become AAFP President. She has served as the Board Chairman and has been honored to have the opportunity to sit as the inaugural chair of the newly created Commission on Diversity, Equity and Inclusiveness in Family Medicine. \n\nShe makes her devotion to family medicine very obvious by concluding, “As family physicians, we’re the trusted resource for our patients and our communities.”","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2195/collection_resources/158021/file/288300#t=0.0,3535.28"}]}]}]}