Mona Zuffante

Mona Zuffante is a member of the Seneca Cayuga Nation of Oklahoma. She grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago with her parents and sister. She enjoyed participating in various Pow-Wows in the Midwest, but also various academic opportunities.

Mona attended Northland College and able to complete her BS degree in environmental health in 1998. After she received her BS degree in 1998, she applied for the environmental health specialist (EHS) position in Winnebago and was selected for this in 1998. As the EHS, she accomplished many things within the community. She wrote, managed and implemented several grants. She learned that she loved learning and being able to work on several projects at one time. Everyday could be a new adventure from car seats to facility inspections to water collection to pet vaccinations.

Mona was fortunate to receive the Aberdeen Area Sanitarian of the year in 2000. During this time, she also became a part time emergency medical technician and has worked for the Winnebago EMS program and is lucky to be apart of this amazing and caring team for the past 22 years. The health director position was vacant and she was promoted into that position about 12 years ago.

Mona wanted to learn more about public health and entered into the Concordia University’s master of public health program, where she graduated in 2017. She currently oversees the 18 field health programs within the Winnebago community.

She has been able to write, managed and implemented several grants through all the years. She has participated in several projects, where she has learned how to design, implement, and collect data to show outcomes and grant budgetary, financial and program reporting requirements.

In 2020, she was accepted into the first PhD Indigenous Health Program at University of North Dakota and graduation in August 2023. This program tested her, but also was what she needed during a Global Pandemic where she was working full time not just as the chief public health director, but also as a member of the Winnebago EMS program. The lessons she learned from this program have been empowering and truly life affirming as an Indigenous person.

She has been able to share many of the lessons and knowledge that she have gained during that time. Her dissertation centered around positive mental health well being among our adolescents and young adults.

Mona has had the privilege of serving on several national boards such as NACCHO and PHF and regional boards such as Buffet cancer advisory board and the Great Plains tribal advisory board and many others. She had the honor of receiving the UNMC distinguished researcher in 2023. 

The most important role that she has had is being a mother to four amazing children. All that she has been able to do in this life is because of the support from them, but also from her companion. She enjoys in her spare time to bead and sew. She loves working outdoors in the garden and trying to grow some flowers from time to time with the help of the Creator. Her parents have set the foundational road that led her throughout her life and she so blessed to be able to do all of this work.

I love my people. It is this love for my people, that I know it all starts with the path that we start our most precious relatives on the best path and support their families.