When Priya Premnath arrived in Milwaukee to begin her career as an assistant professor, she wasn’t thinking about her family history. Fresh from a postdoctoral position in Canada, her focus was simple: find the right job.
But her arrival quietly marked a full-circle moment decades in the making.
“It was a stressful time for me, and I didn’t spend any time considering the fact that Mom was a UWM alum,” she said. “It finally hit me when I was given a lab space in Lapham Hall during the EMS building renovation. Lapham was the same building that Mom had several classes in.”
Premnath grew up in Chennai, in southern India, where her father was an officer in the Indian Navy who was often working away from home. Her mother was an elementary school math and science teacher.
A bold journey from India
In the early 1980s, before marriage and children, Priya’s mother, Latha, made a bold decision to go to college in the U.S. The opportunity was made possible with the support of an aunt and uncle who lived in Milwaukee
Latha enrolled at UWM, where she finished a bachelor’s in arts and sciences degree, and discovered an affinity for microbiology.
She talked about a college experience at UWM that most international undergraduates have: She remembers working part time in the Union restaurants, making friends, deciding on a career, and soaking up a new culture.
Latha also volunteered at the Veterans Administration hospital, helping a researcher by conducting patient interviews. She spent just a few years on campus, earning her degree in 1985 before returning to India and starting a job as a pathologist.
“It was a very sad day for me when I had to leave the place I had begun to love,” she said. “In my busy life the thought of going back was only a distant dream but I held on to it strongly.”
Within a year, she was married and Latha began teaching. Decades passed and her daughter Priyatha also wanted to study abroad.
A daughter charts her own path
Latha got her wish to return to the U.S. in 2010 – this time to celebrate her daughter’s completion of a master’s degree at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
Priyatha then continued her educational path in Canada, earning her doctorate at Ryerson University, now called Toronto Metropolitan University, and completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Calgary.
Priyatha and her husband had thought they would stay in Canada to start their careers, but the universe had other plans. She ultimately accepted a faculty position at the very same university her mother once attended.
“For a position in biomedical engineering to open exactly the year I started applying for faculty positions was amazing!” she recalled. “When I came to Milwaukee for my interview, the same aunt and uncle that supported my mom took me out to dinner and were excited about the prospect of me coming to Milwaukee.”
Priyatha Premnath’s research combines engineering and cell biology to address bone health challenges through biomaterials, genetic engineering, and pharmaceutical approaches. She recently won the Shaw Scientist Award, funding her study of a new way to treat bone cancer.
Meaning on top of memories
It wasn’t something she could have planned, but, in hindsight, it’s hard to miss the symmetry.
“The news that Priya had secured a position at UWM made me realize that life had performed magic for me,” Latha said.
Each Mother’s Day reminds both mother and daughter how they pursued higher education across continents, ultimately landing in the same place.
“Mom loves coming to Milwaukee,” Priyatha said. “She likes driving to past where she once lived, going to Brookfield where she taught Indian classical dance to earn some pocket money, and coming to campus to see how much it has changed over time.
“Things transpired in such a way that it’s almost as if I was meant to be here.”
