Panashe Nyengera

Panashe Nyengera is a Zimbabwean public health researcher pursuing an MSc in Global Health Science and Epidemiology at the University of Oxford. She is a Mastercard Foundation Scholar, based in the Nuffield Department of Population Health, and a member of Oriel College. Her research focuses on epidemiology, biostatistics, and data-driven approaches to understanding population health.

Panashe holds a First-Class Honours degree in Biotechnology and Bioinformatics from Midlands State University, where she graduated as the best student in her department and the second-best student in the Faculty of Science and Technology. Her academic performance was recognised through the MSU Book Prize, KM Spatial, CBZ, and ZIMDEF awards, and she was acknowledged by the Vice-Chancellor for her outstanding academic achievement.

She has co-authored publications on malaria diagnosis using ensemble machine learning, geospatial modelling of malaria risk in Zimbabwe, and HIV testing among adolescent girls and young women. Panashe received the Dr Mutsvangwa Award for Best Student Presentation at the 2024 ZINQAP Annual Scientific Conference.

Her research journey has also taken her beyond Zimbabwe. She worked as a Bioinformatics Assistant at UGenome Biotech in the United States and as a Research and Development Intern at the One Health and Development Initiative in Nigeria. Alongside her research, she served as Secretary of both the Rotaract Club and Enactus at Midlands State University, experiences that strengthened her commitment to leadership and service.

At Oxford, Panashe hopes to grow as a researcher and a leader within a community committed to addressing health inequalities across Africa. She sees Oxford as one step in a longer journey, guided by a simple belief: the most meaningful solutions begin with asking the right questions. Her ambition is to contribute to a future where decisions about maternal and child health across Africa are informed by evidence generated in, and for, African communities.