Justin Salgado is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of History at The Ohio State University. He specializes in the history of public health along the U.S.-Mexico border, focusing on the border cities of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. He is especially interested in cross-border mobility, (im)migration, and the social consequences of global health crises among people living on the border of Mexico and the United States. Salgado’s dissertation investigates how people transcended the limitations of the border to provide mutual aid during epidemics. His research explores the significance of solidarity and collaborative efforts in addressing public health emergencies, emphasizing the need to think beyond national barriers. 

Read his recent work on Operation Hold the Line, the 1993 border experiment that militarized the region with wide-felt effects on the border cities of El Paso and Juárez, here. 

For the 2024-2025 academic year, Justin is a Graduate Fellow in the Global Arts + Humanities Society of Fellows. His research has garnered support from the Center for the Study of Religion, the Center for Ethnic Studies, the Center for Mexican America Studies/Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas at Austin, as well as a Fulbright-García Robles research fellowship, where he was affiliated with the Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia (ENAH) in Mexico City. Before his time at Ohio State, he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. 

Advisor: Professor Clay Howard