He taught high school biology and English in Kenya in the early 1980s, and subsequently pursued studies in Kiswahili and Lingala in Tanzania and the former Zaire. He received his M.P.H. in International Population and Family Health from UCLA in 1991, and his Ph.D. in Medical Anthropology from UC Berkeley in 2001. His research on AIDS outreach, awareness, and prevention has focused on men's lives in Rwanda, Cameroon, and the Republic of Congo. His interests include the life sciences, narrative and personal history, and Congolese music.