About the LIME Network

The LIME Network is a dynamic network dedicated to ensuring the quality and effectiveness of teaching and learning of Indigenous health in medical education, as well as best practice in the recruitment and retention of Indigenous medical students and trainees.

We do this through establishing a continuing bi-national presence that encourages and supports collaboration within and between medical education institutions in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand and by building linkages with local Indigenous communities and with other health science sectors.

The LIME Network has been a program of Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand and has received funding from the Australian Government Department of Health.

The aims of the LIME Network are designed to:

• Support the continuing development and implementation of quality Indigenous health curriculum to improve medical education
• Build on and strengthen effective recruitment and retention initiatives for Indigenous students
• Build the capacity of those working in Indigenous health at medical schools and colleges
• Encourage pathways for vertical integration of Indigenous health curriculum and student recruitment strategies with specialist colleges
• Strengthen Indigenous health initiatives across health disciplines

The LIME Network recognises and promotes the primacy of Indigenous leadership and knowledge.

As part of its commitment to Closing the Gap, the Australian Government is transitioning programs focused on Indigenous outcomes to be governed by Indigenous-led organisations, and the LIME Network program is one of these. As such, earlier this year the new grant opportunity for the LIME Network program was put out to tender.

The LIME Network is currently transitioning to the new grantee, with the details being announced shortly.

We acknowledge and sincerely thank all those who have been involved in the LIME Network program over the last two decades – the dedicated and expert members of the LIME Reference Group, the hard-working and committed secretariat staff, those working in medical education and Indigenous student/trainee support at the medical schools and colleges, the University of Melbourne for their hosting of the secretariat during this time, the Medical Deans of Australia and New Zealand for their unwavering support and engagement, and all those LIME Network members who have worked with and contributed to the outcomes that have been achieved to date.

We are very pleased that the importance of a strong, supported community of practice for Indigenous medical educators and student support leads – whose work, expertise, and commitment are so crucial to growing the numbers of Indigenous doctors and improving medical education for all our future doctors – is recognised, and that the Australian government is continuing to provide funding for this vital work.

Much has been achieved, but much more needs to be done and we look forward to the LIME Network program continuing to make its valued contribution.

The LIME Network consists of a range of participants from key stakeholder groups including medical educators, specialists, policy makers, medical students and community members engaged with Indigenous health and health professional education. LIME Network members come together every two years at the LIME Connection conference.

The LIME Network has a Reference Group made up of representatives from medical schools around Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand. The Reference Group develops and supports the implementation of program initiatives.

• Our leadership in Indigenous Medical Education has been recognised with several awards, including:
  • 2011 Rio Tinto Award for Excellence and Innovation in Indigenous Higher Education
  • 2014 Excellence Award for Equity, Diversity and Staff Development
  • 2016 ASPIRE Award for Social Accountability from the Association of Medical Education in Europe.
• The facilitation of bi-annual Reference Group meetings to provide the opportunity for those working in Indigenous health within medical schools to collaborate, share information, provide feedback and peer network
• The biennial LIME Connection conference to provide a forum for knowledge transfer and dissemination
• Publication of the tri-annual LIME Network Newsletter promoting best practice and sharing successes in the field
• Maintaining the LIME Network Website housing information on LIME Network projects and other news and events
• Building the evidence base of the efficacy of Indigenous health curriculum development and implementation as well as Indigenous student recruitment and retention initiatives through publications such as the Good Practice Case Studies Booklet and the Special Edition of the ANZAHPE Focus on Health Professional Education Journal
• Developing and implementing internal review tools to support medical schools to reflect and evaluate their performance
• Supporting Indigenous high school students to understand the pathways to studying medicine through the online Pathways into Medicine Resource
• Building linkages across health disciplines and with medical colleges through networking and information sharing
• Supporting collaboration between medical schools and their local Indigenous Community Controlled Health Organisations through the facilitation of Regional Meetings

In 2002, the Medical Deans of Australia and New Zealand, formerly the Committee of Deans of Australian Medical Schools (CDAMS) partnered with the Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health (OATSIH) in the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) to establish and implement the CDAMS Indigenous Health Curriculum Development Project, later referred to as the Medical Deans Indigenous Health Project.

In June 2005, the LIME Network was established and formalised at its inaugural conference called the LIME Connection in Fremantle that year. The Medical Deans Indigenous Health Project was completed in December 2007 and the LIME Network became a stand-alone project in 2008, forming part of the broader Medical Deans ‘Closing the Gap’ program, and has secured funding from the Australian Government Department of Health until 2020.

More detail is available on the implementation and outcomes of the Medical Deans Indigenous Health Project.

Professor Shaun Ewen
Professor Shaun Ewen provided the academic and Indigenous leadership for the Leaders in Indigenous Medical Education (LIME) Network project. He was Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous) at The University of Melbourne and the Foundation Director of the Melbourne Poche Centre for Indigenous Health in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences. Shaun has a clinical background in physiotherapy, and holds postgraduate qualifications in international relations and education. His area of research expertise relates to Indigenous health and health professional education.

Shaun held the position of Associate Dean (Indigenous Development) from its inception in 2010 until his appointment to Pro Vice-Chancellor in 2017. In this role he was charged with progressing the Indigenous development agenda, in concert with the Reconciliation Action Plan, for the Faculty. He also provided the academic and Indigenous leadership for the Leaders in Indigenous Medical Education (LIME) project, a bi-national project of Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand.

He has a clinical background in physiotherapy, and holds postgraduate qualifications in international relations and education. His area of research expertise relates to Indigenous health and health professional education.

Professor Ian Anderson
Professor Ian Anderson AO a Palawa man from the northwest coast of Tasmania, is Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student and University Experience) at the ANU. He took up the role in March 2020.

Ian’s professional background includes working in Indigenous health and education, and graduated as a doctor in 1989. He was awarded his PhD in 2006. With over two decades association with the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service as an Aboriginal health worker, doctor, Chief Executive Officer and board member, and a period as Medical Adviser to the Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health in the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care. Professor Anderson has chaired Ministerial Councils such as the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Equality Council and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Higher Education Council.

Prior to joining the public service, Professor Anderson held successive leadership roles at the University of Melbourne including the Foundation Chair, Indigenous Higher Education and as Pro Vice-Chancellor (Engagement). He was previously the Foundation Chair of Indigenous Health, also at Melbourne.

In 2003, under the leadership of Ian Anderson the Indigenous Health Curriculum Project was formalised through a partnership between CDAMS and OATSIH. The Project was hosted by the University of Melbourne’s VicHealth Koori Health Research and Community Development Unit (which was later renamed the Onemda VicHealth Koori Health Unit).