Cynthia is a newborn ICU nurse by trade that has spent the last six years in the medical device industry educating nurses and doctors about devices that are new to their facility. In her spare time she enjoys hiking, traveling the world with her family, and creating Halloween animatronics for her annual front yard display. She has a passion for life-long learning and enjoys sharing what she learns with the people around her.

Christie Edwards is a seasoned public health professional with over a decade of experience in healthcare systems, community health, and program management. Her career spans critical roles in academic institutions, hospitals, and public health networks where she has demonstrated a consistent ability to lead, innovate, and foster meaningful community engagement. Christie previously worked as the Program Manager for the Community-based Research Network (C3EN) at Rush University Medical Center. In this capacity, she developed and implemented partnership strategies, built relationships with community-based organizations, and provided strategic guidance to address health disparities and chronic conditions. In addition, Christie managed grant-funded programs, such as integrative medicine initiatives, and supported grants for addiction medicine at Cook County Health. She was instrumental in developing data-informed approaches to improve care delivery, supporting provider training, and optimizing operational processes for behavioral health and substance use disorder services. Christie has also worked with academic programs, where she supported preventive medicine residency training and palliative medicine fellowships, emphasizing curriculum development, quality improvement, and inter-institutional collaboration.