Gemmae Maya Fix, PhD
Associate Professor, Medicine
Biography
Gemmae M. Fix, PhD is an applied medical anthropologist with postdoctoral training in health services research. She is also an Investigator at the Center for Healthcare Optimization and Implementation Research (CHOIR), a VA Health Services Research Center of Innovation, co-located at the Boston and Bedford VA Medical Centers. Dr. Fix’s research uses ethnographic, qualitative methods to advance the delivery of patient-centered care, particularly for populations stigmatized for their behaviors, such as people living with HIV or patients who are at risk for lung cancer. She has led AHRQ, VA and DoD funded studies examining patients’ experiences of care, patient-centered HIV care, and the use of co-design methods to engage patients in the research process.
Additionally, Dr. Fix is interested in the professional development of social scientists. She has written extensively about the careers of anthropologists, including a guest edited volume of Practicing Anthropology, which profiled the work of anthropologists working in a variety of health-related settings. She led the formation of the Medical Anthropologists and Social Scientists in Health (MASSH) interest group which brings together anthropologists and allied social scientists working in applied health settings (hospitals, health departments, companies, community-based organizations, and universities) to promote professional development, research collaboration, and educational opportunities. Further, she has developed and taught qualitative methods courses for health professionals, and is an Associate Editor for Journal for General Internal Medicine where she adjudicates manuscripts, with a focus on studies that use qualitative methods. Dr. Fix is a Fellow of the Academy of Communication in Healthcare as well as the Society for Applied Anthropology. She was elected to the Board of the Society for Applied Anthropology, and currently serves as Secretary. In these roles, she advocates for the use of social science approaches to address healthcare research questions and the professional development of applied anthropologists.
Education
- State University of New York at Buffalo, PhD
- State University of New York at Buffalo, MA
- University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, BA
Publications
- Published on 3/11/2025
Ettinger de Cuba S, Jones DK, Cutts D, Bovell-Ammon A, Lê-Scherban F, Sandel M, Ochoa E, Poblacion A, Frank DA, Black MM, Fix GM. "But who takes care of the mom?": The daily experiences of immigrant mothers navigating health in family life. Soc Sci Med. 2025 May; 372:117948. PMID: 40090206.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 1/23/2025
Gurewich D, Hunt K, Bokhour B, Fix G, Friedman H, Li M, Linsky AM, Niles B, Dichter M. Screening and Referral for Social Needs Among Veterans: A Randomized Controlled Trial. J Gen Intern Med. 2025 Jan 23. PMID: 39849274.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 1/1/2025
Madeline Villalba, Gemmae M. Fix, Rachel Schenkel, Mary Ann Chiasson, Allen L. Gifford, Peter Gordon, Helen-Maria Lekas, Michael T. Yin, Abigail Baim-Lance,. Exploring HIV provider framings of living and aging with HIV. 2025; 7.
Read at: Custom - Published on 12/9/2024
Hamilton AB, Fix GM, Finley EP. Pragmatic Healthcare Ethnography: Methods to Study and Improve Healthcare. Routledge. 2024; 154.
Read at: Custom - Published on 12/6/2024
Seidenfeld J, Tucker M, Harris-Gersten M, Fix GM, Guzman I, Sperber NR, Hastings SN. Characterizing Emergency Department Disposition Conversations for Persons Living With Dementia: Protocol for an Ethnographic Study. JMIR Res Protoc. 2024 Dec 06; 13:e65043. PMID: 39642361.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 12/2/2024
Rupcic S, Shapiro LN, Seaman A, Fix GM. Independence with others: Lessons for anthropology from postdocs in team science. Hum Organ. 2024 Dec 02; 83(4):413-425. PMID: 39949857.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 11/1/2024
Wolfe HL, Hughto JMW, Siegel J, Fix GM, Poteat TC, Streed CG, Hughes LD, Balkan E, Drainoni ML. Exploring Perspectives on HIV Vulnerability Communication among Transgender and Gender Diverse Patients and Primary Care Providers. Arch Sex Behav. 2025 Feb; 54(2):817-826. PMID: 39485606.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 10/29/2024
Rupcic S, Tam MZ, DeLaughter KL, Gifford AL, Barker AM, Bokhour BG, Xu C, Dryden E, Anderson E, Jasuja GK, Boudreau J, Douglas JH, Hyde J, Mozer R, Zeliadt SB, Fix GM. Co-designing a blueprint for spreading person-centered, Whole Health care to HIV specialty care settings: a mixed methods protocol. BMC Health Serv Res. 2024 Oct 29; 24(1):1306. PMID: 39472856.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 10/25/2024
Friedman HR, Griesemer I, Hausmann LRM, Fix GM, Hyde J, Gurewich D. Social needs and health outcomes in two rural Veteran populations. J Rural Health. 2025 Mar; 41(2):e12893. PMID: 39460466.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 6/7/2024
Fix GM, Kaitz J, Herbst AN, Wiener RS, Crocker D, Miano D, Barker AM. Practical Strategies for Co-design: The Case of Engaging Patients in Developing Patient-Facing Shared-Decision Making Materials for Lung Cancer Screening. J Patient Exp. 2024; 11:23743735241252247. PMID: 38855653.
Read at: PubMed
View 74 more publications: View full profile at BUMC