The Foundation provided independent distance education services to general practitioners and other health professionals working in rural and remote Australia.

Foundation-produced programs are designed to address the unique education and information needs of medical practitioners, health workers and communities in rural and remote Australia.

In June 2010 the Foundation's Outback Healers and Heroines program, about women GPs who are passionately committed to rural practice, had its world premiere on SBS TV.

The Foundation pays particular attention to the health, medical and education needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The Rural Health Education Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation governed by a nine-person board of directors, all of whom serve in a voluntary capacity.

Day-to-day operations are managed by a chief executive officer and a team of full-time staff based in Deakin in the Australian Capital Territory, and Sydney in New South Wales.

Mr Calma is a former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner who has been involved in Indigenous affairs for 38 years.