The Indigenous Health Initiative began its life in 2008, as the Aboriginal Health Initiative. A project initiated by the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs Secretariat, its goal was to make the Faculty of Medicine at Memorial University more inclusive of learners from First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities, predominantly within the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Since 2010, the initiative has been funded entirely as a core program of the Faculty of Medicine.