Indigenous Health Member Interest Group
Established: January 2025
The Indigenous Health Member Interest Group (MIG) promotes family medicine among Native American, American Indian, Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Island, Urban Indian, and Indigenous communities, as well as those who identify as original peoples to a land, region or sea.
While this MIG is currently named as such, we recognize that some do not identify as Indigenous. In the future, the MIG name may be updated to reflect greater inclusivity as the group develops.
Who can join this MIG
Participation is open to any AAFP member interested in or seeking to learn more about the health of Indigenous peoples.
Indigenous Health MIG objectives
- Help to expand the healthcare workforce among underserved and marginalized communities.
- Promote family medicine by integrating Western and Indigenous practices. Members working in under-resourced Indigenous communities will receive support through shared experiences and collaborative problem-solving.
- Further diversity and inclusion among AAFP membership and within the family medicine specialty through a focus on Indigenous Health.
Long-term MIG goals
- Advocate for Family Physicians serving Indigenous communities, especially those who identify as Indigenous or as members of other underserved and marginalized groups, to help with increasing membership and representation in AAFP and Family Medicine.
- Help promote and support racial, ethnic, and culturally concordant physicians who provide care to Indigenous patients.
- Create a forum to build awareness and share best practices on population health, reducing health disparities, and policies and resources that impact Indigenous health that will inform AAFP membership, advance Family Medicine, and help improve the health of our patients who come from underserved and marginalized Indigenous groups.
- Be open to sharing ideas on how we can improve our health system to be more inclusive of and work for our Indigenous groups.
- Bring awareness to Physician Training Program opportunities in Tribe, Urban, Indian Health Service, and Indigenous communities.
MIG officers
- Chair: Frank Animikwam, MD
- Vice Chair: James Conniff, MD