[2][dead link‍] After graduation, Del Maestro completed five years of junior medical training and neurosurgical residency.

[2][3] In 1979, he received his Ph.D. in the subject of biochemistry from the University of Uppsala, Sweden, where he focused on mechanisms of free radical injury in the small blood vessels.

He made developments in “awake” brain surgery, where people can respond as the operation progresses,[5] and is the director of the Neurosurgical Simulation Research Center at the MNH at McGill.

[8] The idea came after observing the reduction in fatal aircraft accidents following the global use of simulation in the aviation industry.

The adapted simulator, "NeuroVR", developed with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), allows neurosurgeons to practice brain surgery.

[13] Del Maestro possesses one of the largest private collections of materials related to Leonardo da Vinci.