Cydney McGuire is a PhD candidate in Health Services Research, Policy, and Administration, with a focus on Policy. She received her BS in Human Performance specializing in sports medicine from Howard University and holds an MPH in Community Health and Prevention from Drexel University. She was previously an NIH T32 pre-doctoral fellow in the Minnesota Obesity Prevention Training Program in the Division of Epidemiology. She was awarded the 2021-2022 University of Minnesota Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship to fund her dissertation work. Cydney’s research focuses on the intersection between inequity in health and inequities in political power and voice. She is interested in how individuals and communities engage with the political process and evaluating the contextual factors that produce disparities in health and political power, precluding the achievement of population health equity. She investigates inequities in chronic health conditions, political participation, and social needs, such as food security.