Dr. Joni Buffalohead is KAI’s Vice President of Behavioral Health Transformation. She possesses over two decades of experience in urban and tribal health care across Indian Country, including work in policy development, traditional practices, food and nutrition, and strengthening the boundaries of Native sovereignty on issues of health care, data collection, and public policy. She has worked extensively with all eleven Minnesota tribes (Anishinaabe and Ojibwe in the north, Dakota in the south), rebuilding traditionally fraught relationships and spearheading equitable access to statewide resources.
She recently served as a senior consultant on public health for Guidehouse, and previously worked to spearhead a Native-owned and -operated pharmacy project in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. She also served as a sponsor for a Muckleshoot-owned clinic focusing on Medication Assisted Treatment for opioid use disorder. Dr. Buffalohead attended the University of Minnesota, where she earned a doctorate in pharmaceutical care and health systems, a master’s in social and administrative pharmacy, and a bachelor’s in American Indian studies.
