Dr. Sanchez received his Ph.D. in social work from Wilfrid Laurier University.  Prior to joining the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Regina in 2000, he worked as an educational consultant and worker’s advocate.  He taught courses in social work practice, social work with immigrants and refugees, social work and refugee children, child welfare systems and immigrant families, social welfare, social work with victims of abuse, anti-oppressive practice, and program development and service delivery systems. 

 His research interests include social policy, child poverty, traumatized populations, family violence, anti-oppressive practices, community development and international social work. The Canadian Social Work Review, International Social Work, and the Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health have published his refereed and co-authored articles.

 Prior to his retirement in 2023, while holding the Associate Dean office, he was responsible for the design and implementation of the Prairie Beginnings program, which was sponsored by the Faculty of Social Work of the University of Regina. This program was geared to recently arrived refugee children and paid special attention to the traumatic experiences lived by these children. In a relaxed environment, it offered educational activities to facilitate the transition of Syrian refugee children into the Canadian society.

His latest research endeavor was a study on Immigrant Settlement and Community-Newcomer Integration in South Central Saskatchewan for Prairie Skies Integration Network Research.  This research project was funded by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Dr. Sanchez was one of two co-investigators in a team with five other academic researchers. The result of this work was titled: Immigrant settlement and community-newcomer integration in South Central Saskatchewan.