Tomás Plaza Reneses grew up in Madrid, Spain. He attended the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom and spent an exchange year in France. During university, Tomás volunteered as a teacher in Northern Ethiopia and in Exeter. After his bachelor's degree, he received his master's in population and development from the London School of Economics. He subsequently worked in the Health Division of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris, France. There, his work focused on health systems in Latin America and the Caribbean. He contributed to work measuring the efforts towards universal health coverage in the region by analyzing health policy, data systems, and financing. In his free time, Tomás is probably practicing his Portuguese, at the cinema, or rock climbing.