Cynthia Pando is a PhD candidate in Health Services Research, Policy, and Administration at the University of Minnesota. Her research focuses on the structural barriers that impede marginalized populations’ access to healthcare services, integrating theories and methods from health policy, population health, and sociology. Previously, she was a research assistant at the State Health Access Data Assistance Center, where she worked on multiple state-focused projects, including Minnesota’s Community and Uninsured Profile. She was a pre-doctoral Population Health T-32 NICHD trainee at the Minnesota Population Center.