About the Author

Jessie Scharfenberg

Jessica Scharfenberg is a nurse by trade but leader by nature. After completing her BSN at Edgewood College, she moved to rural South Dakota, working as a nurse at a critical access hospital near two Native American reservations. This is where her passion for public health and prevention blossomed. After seeing the same patients, week after week being met with severe inequities, she transitioned into public health nursing, working as a public health regional manager for the South Dakota Department of Health. In that time, she earned her Masters of Public Health with an emphasis in policy and administration from Concordia University in Seward, Nebraska.

In the spring of 2016, she moved back home to Wisconsin to assume the role of CEO at Healthfirst Network; a non-profit reproductive health and WIC clinic serving nine counties in central Wisconsin. The transition has allowed her to focus on her true passions: reproductive health and maternal and child health. Jessica is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Business Administration, specializing in leadership.