When Rashida Parveen arrived in Milwaukee in December 2021, she carried more than just two suitcases. She brought the hopes of a small Pakistani village, the resilience of a family that had defied generational norms, and an unwavering belief that education could change lives — starting with her own.
Today, Parveen is a graduate student in the Biomedical Sciences MS program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, conducting research on Lyme disease and mentoring scores of international students. The path that brought her here was anything but easy, but it’s one she continues to walk with purpose, setting an example for others every step of the way.
A childhood shaped by resolve
“I grew up in a rural village in Pakistan where girls weren’t expected to go far in school,” she said. “Most left after primary school, especially if they came from farming families. The idea was that boys should study, girls should stay home.”
As the youngest sibling in a family that valued hard work and education, Parveen became the exception to the cultural norm. Her father, a police officer, and her three older brothers made it their mission to support her academic journey, even when societal expectations pushed the other way. “They had seen how competitive life was outside the village, especially in big cities,” she recalled. “They knew education was the only way forward — and they wanted that for me.”
Parveen’s early education was humble: sitting on carpets or even under trees at schools with no air conditioning. Despite the challenges, she excelled. “When I received a laptop from the prime minister’s program for high-performing students, it was the first time many in my village had even seen one. It was a big deal.”
From fields to frontiers of science
Parveen originally dreamed of becoming a doctor but found herself pursuing an undergraduate degree in agriculture at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad, one of Asia’s top institutions.
“My community relied on farming, but they didn’t have access to modern tools or support systems,” she said. “I wanted to bring that knowledge back to them.”
Her academic record was stellar, and she earned a prestigious cultural exchange scholarship to study in China — another breakthrough moment for a woman from a conservative background. “Traveling alone, representing my country… it was unheard of in my village,” she said.
After a short stint at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut, where she earned a perfect 4.0 GPA, Parveen transferred to UWM to dive deeper into biomedical sciences, an area that had long fascinated her. Her research focuses on the immune response to Lyme disease, particularly how cytokine proteins affect inflammation and disease progression. She also serves as a teaching assistant in the biomedical sciences program.
“I was drawn to immunology after seeing how critical our immune systems were during COVID,” she says. “I wanted to be part of advancing treatment strategies.”
Her time at UWM hasn’t been limited to the lab. As president of the Global Student Alliance and a leader in UWM’s student government, Parveen has worked to amplify international student voices. She helped rebuild the mentoring program Panther International Pals and has mentored nearly 80 international students over the past two years. In 2024, she became chairperson of UWM’s Oversight and Appeals Commission and was honored with the International Advocate Award by the Center for International Education.
“My mission is to be a consistent, strong voice — not just for myself, but for the girls back home who are watching,” she says. “When I go home, community members ask me, ‘How is life there?’ I tell them: I’m safe, I’m supported, and your daughters deserve this, too.”
Creating a path for the next generation
What began as a personal ambition has evolved into a ripple effect. Parveen says one of her proudest moments wasn’t an award or a research milestone but seeing change back home.
“More girls are going to school now. People used to think only boys should study. But when they saw my consistency, when they saw that I could do it — they started to believe in their daughters too.”
Even with her coursework completed, Parveen is still pushing forward.
She’s taken graduate-level classes at Marquette University through a graduate student exchange program between UW-Milwaukee and Marquette. She continues her research with an eye toward medical school. “When I have an assignment, I forget to eat, to breathe,” she laughed. “That’s how much I care.”
When asked what keeps her going, especially after two and a half years without seeing her family, Parveen didn’t hesitate: “I feel responsible for my community. I don’t want to break the chain of trust they’ve placed in me.”
Her story proves that success isn’t just measured in grades or titles — it’s measured in the lives she’s inspired, both in Milwaukee and in the village where her journey began.
