Dr. Espinosa received a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2003.  She is currently an Associate Professor of History at the University of Iowa, and affiliated faculty in the Program in Bioethics and Humanities at the Carver College of Medicine.

She is the author of Epidemic Invasions: Yellow Fever and the Limits of Cuban Independence, 1878-1930. She was the recipient of the May Brodbeck Humanities Fellowship in 2015-2016 and is currently working on a book project on yellow fever knowledge beyond the boundaries of empire in the Caribbean. She is an active member of Chacra, a collective of scholar-teachers who share their expertise and research on Latin America, the Caribbean, the Atlantic World, and has published a variety of recent articles which provide historical perspectives on the COVID-19 pandemic.

At U Iowa, Dr. Espinosa has taught courses on disease and health in Latin America, the history of Cuba, and the global history of race, science, and medicine.