Degrees

• 2021: Master of Arts: Sociology. University of California, Los Angeles
• 2017: Master of Arts: Gender and Women’s Studies. University of Wisconsin, Madison
• 2017: Graduate Certificate: Global Health. University of Wisconsin, Madison
• 2013: Sociology Licence: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP)
• 2012: Bachelor of Arts: Sociology. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP)

Fields of Study

Sociology of Medicine, Sociology of Gender, Urban Sociology, Ethnography, Health Inequalities

Research

I use ethnographic methods to investigate the ties between medicine and poverty governance by examining the expansion of healthcare for the unhoused in California. I study how medical providers working on the streets of Los Angeles navigate three tensions, (1) who among the large and widespread homeless population becomes their patients and why, (2) what they can do for their patients considering the multiple social and medical needs of the unhoused and the limitations of practicing medicine on the streets, and (3) how they engage the unhoused—a population known for distrusting the medical system—in medical care.

Publications

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

Liu, R.Y., Schwartz, J.B., Renero-Haman, B, Del Mastro N., I., Tarn, D.M. (2025). Attitudes about clinical trials of medications in older Hispanic/Latino adults with multimorbidity. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Del Mastro N., I. (2022). Providing culturally competent and universal health care in the Peruvian Amazon: The role of medical authority. Social Science & Medicine, 315, 115556.

Del Mastro N., I. (2021). Adapting to poverty and dealing with gender: a comparative perspective on teenage pregnancy in the Peruvian Amazon. Culture, health & sexuality, 1-15.

Del Mastro N., I., Llacsa, P, Reinders, S., Perez, R., Solis, Y., Alva, I., Blas, M. M. (2021). Home birth preference, childbirth, and newborn care practices in rural Peruvian Amazon. PLoS ONE, 16(5) : e0250702. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250702

Toyama, M., Diez Canseco, F., Busse, P., Del Mastro, I., Miranda, J. (2018). Design and validation of a set of SMS to promote seeking of specialized mental health care within the Allillanchu Project. Global Health, Epidemiology and Genomics 3, e2, 1-9 pp.

Del Mastro N., I. (2015). Entre Madres Adolescentes y Adolescentes-Madres: Un análisis de su trayectoria de vida y los factores que influyen en su configuración. [“Between Adolescent Mothers and Mothering Adolescents: A qualitative life course analysis and the factors that shape it.”]. Bachelor Thesis. Debates en Sociología 40, 31- 60 pp.

Stuart, J., Poémape, S., & Del Mastro N., I. (2015). En busca del bienestar: Barreras y posibilidades percibidas por las mujeres transexuales para acceder a los servicios de salud en Iquitos [Seeking well-being: Transgender women’s perceived barriers and pathways to healthcare access in Iquitos]. Argumentos, 2(9)

Book Chapters

Del Mastro N., I. “Prefiero que seas puta a que seas leca”: El impacto de la heteronormatividad en el embarazo adolescente. [“I’d rather you be a whore than a dyke”: Queer teen moms coping with stigma, maternity expectations, and the cultural intelligibility of gender]. (2018) In Hernández, W. Género en el Perú: Nuevos Enfoques, Miradas Interdisciplinarias. Lima: Universidad de Lima & Centros de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales.

Public Writing

Del Mastro N., I. “Brutalidad policial en Perú: ¿reformismo o abolición?” [Police brutality in Peru: Reformism or abolition?] La Opinion. (November 2020) https://laopinion.com/2020/11/22/brutalidad-policial-en-peru-reformismo-o-abolicion/

Del Mastro N., I. “El fútbol femenino y la huella patriarcal.” [Women’s soccer and the legacy of patriarchy]. La Mula. (December 2018). https://idelmastro.lamula.pe/2018/12/03/el-futbol-femenino-y-la-huella-patriarcal/idelmastro/

Brossard, A., Del Mastro N., I., Machuca, M., Zea, M, Sambieni, E. “Los determinantes socioculturales y comunitarios de los embarazos no deseados y los abortos inseguros. Villa el Salvador, Perú.” [The Sociocultural and Community Determinants of Unintended Pregnancies and Unsafe Abortions. Villa el Salvador, Peru]. Consorcio latinoamericano contra el aborto inseguro. (November 2015). https://clacaidigital.info/handle/123456789/764

Awards & Grants

• 2024: Haynes Lindley Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (Deferred to AY 2025-2026)
• 2024: Center for Engaged Scholarship Dissertation Fellowship
• 2024: ASA Dissertation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant
• 2022: Graduate Summer Research Mentorship Program. UCLA
• 2022: Bedari Kindness Institute Graduate Fellowship Program. UCLA
• 2021-22: Graduate Council Diversity Fellowship. UCLA
• 2019-2021: Graduate Dean’s Scholar Award. Graduate School. UCLA
• 2017: Worcester/Whatley/Leavitt Award For outstanding research, teaching, and outreach in gender and health. Center for Research on Gender and Women. UW, Madison.
• 2016: Tinker Nave Short-Term Field Research Grant. Latin America, Caribbean and Iberian Studies Program. University of Wisconsin-Madison.
• 2016: Research Travel Award. Graduate School. University of Wisconsin-Madison.
• 2016: Social Transformations to End Exploitation and Trafficking for Sex (STREETS) Project Award, 4W Initiative. University of Wisconsin-Madison.
• 2013: Year’s Best Undergraduate Thesis in Sociology. Social Sciences Department, PUCP.
• 2012: Financial Support Program for Undergraduate Thesis (PADET). PUCP.

Conference Presentations

• Becoming a patient on the streets: Health care expansion in times of housing deprivation. Urban Affairs Association Conference 2024. New York City, April 2024
• Providing culturally competent and universal health care in the Peruvian Amazon: The role of medical authority. American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Los Angeles, August 2022.
• “I Rather You Be a Whore Than a Lesbian”. Coping with stigma, maternity expectations, and the cultural intelligibility of gender: the impact of heteronormativity in teenage pregnancy”. Género en el Perú: Nuevas Miradas, Enfoques Interdisciplinarios. Book Presentation. Universidad De Lima, November 2018; Gender & Women’s Studies Graduate Conference. University of Wisconsin-Madison, February 2017
• Mobile Health to Prevent Adolescent Pregnancies and the Healthcare of Mother and Child.
  Fifth Childhood, Adolescence and Youth Workshop. CIPS. La Habana, October 2014
• Among Teen Mothers and Teenager/Mother: an analysis of their life trajectory and the influential factors of their formation. (Bachelor thesis)
  Latin American Sociology Congress. ALAS Chile 2013
• Integrational family, solidarity and mobility in the precariousness of urban life: cross looks France – Peru. IFEA, IEP, French Alliance. Lima, July 2013
• The Use of Time and Entrepreneurship of the Female Youth. Factors of success and challenges faced by microbusinesses owned by young women (Aged 15-29) in Metropolitan Lima.
  International Colloquium of Social Sciences Working on the cross between family dynamics in Andes and Amazonian societies. Instituto Francés de Estudios Andinos. La Paz, November 2012
• Road to Justice: passengers and drivers in transport to reconciliation.
  Latin American Congress of Sociology. ALAS. Chile 2013
• Motivation and Impact of an Agroecological Association in the Catahuasi – Yauyos district.
  First Latin American Convention of Sociology Students. Convención Latinoamericana de Estudiantes de Sociología. Mexico DF, December 2012

Advisors

• Stefan Timmermans