Dawn McGuire is a neurologist and author of two earlier poetry collections, Sleeping in Africa and Hands On. She grew up in eastern Kentucky and was educated at Princeton University, Union Theological Seminary, and Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. Her scientific work is focused in two areas: developing biological and gene therapies for diseases such as Huntington's disease and Multiple Sclerosis; and in reducing disparities in stroke and other neurologic conditions. Her poems have appeared in various literary magazine and anthologies, including the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and the Journal of American Neurology. McGuire has won several poetry awards, including the 2011 Sarah Lawrence/Campbell Corner Academy of Language Exchange Poetry Prize for poems that treat larger themes with lyric intensity. She is Adjunct Professor of Neurology at the Neurosciences Institute of Morehouse School of Medicine, and divides her time between Atlanta and Northern California.