Silvana Matassini Eyzaguirre

Silvana Matassini is is a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow at University of Southern California. She holds a PhD in Health Sciences from The University of Hull, a MA in Medical Anthropology from the University of Edinburgh and a MA in Social Gerontology from The University of Southampton.  She specializes in the study of gender and health. Her current research project, “Diagnostic Trajectories: Learning to Unlearn the Body and the Validation of Pain in Women,” delves into women’s experiences navigating the medical diagnostic process. In this work, she investigates how gender biases and preconceived notions about the female body influence diagnosis, treatment, and, ultimately, the validation of women’s pain. The aim is to explore how women must often “unlearn” their bodies—challenging culturally ingrained ideas and medical stereotypes that have historically undermined their experiences of pain. This research aims to understand how medical professionals learn to approach female bodies and the dilemmas they face in diagnosing and treating women’s pain while also highlighting how women’s narratives about their health are often silenced or dismissed.