Our Focus
Inspired by the LIME (Leaders in Indigenous Medical Education) network based in Australia and New Zealand, we are focused on:
- Shifting mind-sets of health professions leaders to become more inclusive of education and training that prepares clinicians to provide culturally responsive and quality health care to American Indian and Alaska Native communities
- Increasing access to curricular resources that center the experiences and traditional healing practices of Native communities
- Creating a curricular framework for the delivery of lessons on Indigenous health
- Building a community of learners, trainees, scholars, and leaders who work together to advance scholarship that strives to decolonize health professions education
- Engaging in collaborations that promote the health of Indigenous communities
Call For Abstracts
Indigenous Health Special Collection
The Indigenous Health Educators Alliance (IHEAL) is partnering with Academic Medicine to develop a special collection for their journal that focuses on Indigenizing Healthcare. The collection will include articles on any of the following subjects: medical education, Indigenous healthcare workforce development, health centers and traditional Indigenous medicine.
To Indigenize means to incorporate Indigenous values, beliefs, and protocols into healthcare settings. Indigenizing health can include the training of health professionals or the systems of health themselves. This special collection aims to elucidate ways in which Indigeneity is being incorporated into health care, health systems, and training centers to improve equity and care received by Indigenous patients. Further, manuscripts may focus on the experience of healthcare learners, workers, and Traditional Indigenous Medicine practitioners. Indigenous authorship and community partnership is preferred. Only one submission per lead author is allowed. While we aim to accept one abstract per lead author, collaboration with other scholars including students, trainees, and junior faculty is encouraged.
Guest Editors
- Mary Owen, MD, University of Minnesota Medical School, Duluth
- Melissa Lewis, PhD, University of Missouri School of Medicine
- Norma Poll-Hunter, PhD, Association of American Medical Colleges
Process
Abstracts of 250-300 words should be submitted via this Google Form by January 26, 2024.
Guest editors will review the abstracts and invite authors to submit a manuscript for the Indigenous Health Special Collection. Authors will have six months to finish their manuscripts. Throughout the six months, authors will be encouraged to participate in monthly writing sessions, to share their work with other authors, seeking feedback from and giving advice to one another. Guest editors will attend the meetings and participate in discussion and feedback. We encourage mentorship of students and junior faculty to contribute to the manuscripts so that the development of an Indigenous Health Special Collection is a collaborative, supportive, and educational process.
At the end of six months, selected authors will be invited to submit their manuscripts to Academic Medicine. Academic Medicine will then review each manuscript per their standard process with at least two peer reviewers. Final decisions of manuscript inclusion will be made by Academic Medicine. Anticipated publication is 2025.
Please ensure you read the Guide for Authors before writing your abstract.
Inquiries, including questions about appropriate topics, may be sent to iheal@aamc.org.
Related Publications
- The Development of an Indigenous Health Curriculum for Medical Students
- Educating for Indigenous Health Equity: An International Consensus Statement
Contact
For general inquiries, contact iheal@aamc.org.