His research focus includes Latina/o history, the social and cultural history of medicine, public history, and American immigration histories. His book, Fevered Measures: Public Health and Race at the Texas-Mexico Border, 1848-1942, examines how Texas border residents and migrants responded to the ways public health authorities drew medical borders across their communities. He has worked for the National Museum of American History, as well as the HIV division of the Cook County Department of Public Health. Parts of his public history efforts can be seen at the Smithsonian Institution and at the Onda Latina / Mexican American Experience web portal. He received his Ph.D. in History from the University of Michigan.