Agness Thawani is from Chiradzulu district, Malawi. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Malawi Polytechnic, where she majored in statistics and computing. While at Polytechnic, she was an executive member of the Student Welfare Committee. During her undergraduate years she worked as a volunteer at Nkhotakota District Health Management Information Systems Office as an Assistant Monitoring and Evaluation Officer. There, she provided on-the-job training to people involved in data management. It was her responsibility to make sure that programs were being implemented as planned and that the planned activities were effectively addressing existing problems. Agness also worked as an Assistant Data Management Officer at Dignitas International, where she was involved in data cleaning, database development and research work. Agness is currently studying for her Master of Science in Biostatistics at Chancellor College. Agness has always wanted to have a positive impact on the health of the people in her community and beyond.