Fatima Javed

Hi! My name is Fatima and I am a fourth year PhD candidate in the department of cell and developmental biology. My family and I moved to Chicago from Pakistan shortly after I finished high school. My educational journey began at the College of DuPage, a local community college in Illinois, where I got the opportunity to explore various career options from engineering to interior design. I found myself enjoying biology and chemistry. This led me to pursue Biochemistry and Molecular Biology as a major at Benedictine University (turns out the biochemistry is very different from biology and chemistry alone). Initially, research was just a course requirement. My first research experience was in analytical chemistry where I studied the heavy metal contents of red and white wines from around the world. This experience made me fall in love with bench research. After completing my bachelor’s degree, I moved to Ann Arbor to work as a research technician at the University of Michigan. Here, I was exposed to the life as a scientist which solidified my ambition of pursuing Ph.D. in cell biology. Currently, I work in Dr. Carole Parent’s lab to identify the mechanisms by which neutrophils, the most abundant immune cells in the circulating blood, migrate towards the sites of infection and injury. Over the course of last four years, I have become passionate about promoting scientific ideas and concepts to the community at large. I do this by teaching my fellow colleagues how to effectively communicate their research to a lay audience. When I am not in lab, I enjoy reading fictional books (The City of Brass Triology is my current favorite), hanging out with my friends and family and cuddling with my cat.

Program:

Email: