Lucia Zuniga has cared for adult and child victims of sexual assault for over 25 years. Trained as one of the first sexual assault nurse examiners in the state of Massachusetts, she went on to pioneer the state-wide Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Program which has grown to 27 hospitals and seven child advocacy centers as of this writing. As co-chair of the Executive Office of Public Safety’s Evidence Committee in the state of Massachusetts, Zuniga oversaw the production, protocols, training, and statewide implementation of the Adult and Pediatric Evidence Collection Kit. She collaborated with Tufts University to facilitate a workshop managing the concerns and fears of immigrant mothers from Latin American countries around child sexual abuse.
Zuniga has directed the National Tele-Nursing Center, overseeing training and provision of services to victims of sexual assault across the United States. Zuniga collaborated with Boston College faculty to develop a Masters in Forensic Nursing program for the Boston College William F. Connell School of Nursing. She has consulted with state, federal, tribal, university and not-for-profit organizations in the U.S. on building sustainable services for victims of sexual assault and offers her expertise on curriculum development, evidence collection, comprehensive protocols, policy, leadership, program design, and implementation.
Zuniga holds a BS in Nursing from the University of Texas at El Paso, and an MS in Nursing Leadership and Health Care Administration from Regis College.