Dr Monique Maqungo obtained her PhD from the University of the Western Cape. She’s transitioned from Bioinformatics to Public Health, worked as project coordinator/data manager for CDC-funded National Cause-of-death Validation Study. She enrolled for an MPH (Epidemiology and Biostatistics) and an intern to acquire skill in public health research. She’s currently working as a Senior Scientist on the Strengthening Mortality Surveillance study to investigate the extent of treatment defaulting in mortality from HIV or TB collected from verbal autopsy narratives.