Mikels-Carrasco is the former Director of the Center for Health Information Sharing & Innovation at the Illinois Public Health Institute (IPHI), where he led the development and design of the Chicago Regionwide Community Information Exchange. During his directorship, Waldo also served as the Co-Director of Data Across Sectors for Health (DASH), an initiative supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and led the DASH team supporting the Data Modernization Initiative (DMI) of the CDC’s Public Health Infrastructure Grant, providing technical assistance to state, local, and territorial health departments. Previous to his work at IPHI, he served as the Director of Community & Governmental Solutions at the Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE), where he was responsible for collaborative organizational development focusing on multi-sector data-sharing efforts to address social determinants of health (SDoH). His work at IHIE included developing partnerships to improve public health data interoperability, Transitions-in-Care for populations experiencing prison and jail reentry, homelessness/housing insecurity, HIV/AIDS, substance use disorder, and the need for Long-Term Social Services. Prior to joining the health information sector, he spent several years at the University of Notre Dame, where he served as the Community Health Research Program Manager at the Interdisciplinary Center for Network Science & Applications (iCeNSA), and as the regional liaison for the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute’s (ICTSI) Community Health Engagement Program (CHEP).

Outside of the academy, Waldo was an inaugural member of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health's Regional Health Equity Council for Region V, as part of the National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities. As an applied researcher, he has served as Principal Investigator on multiple projects addressing health disparities, infant mortality, mental health, and childhood obesity. He holds an MA in applied medical anthropology from the University of North Texas and a BA in philosophy from Indiana University.