[100 Emerging Women Leaders] How Dr Uzma Saqib took the road less travelled and found her destination

Dr Uzma Saqib was always fascinated by the world of medical science. When she couldn’t clear her medical entrance exams, she took a different route to pursue her interests and decided to take up biochemistry and later biotechnology from Bhopal’s Barkatullah Vishwavidyalaya. 

“As a student pursuing a newly-introduced course, I was really fascinated by the new discoveries related to genes and genetic engineering. It felt like genes were magic wands where you can cut one gene and add something else,” Uzma describes her love for the subject. 

Her curiosity and inquisitive nature led her to projects with prestigious national and international institutions like the Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI) Lucknow, American Heart Association (AHA), International Union of Biochemistry and many more. 

Hailing from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, Uzma feels that women have a more difficult time than men when it comes to pursuing their interests. She recalls an instance when her parents were uncomfortable sending her to a biohazard facility, simply because she had to take baths before and after the visit.

“When you are a woman from a small city, your parents are not always thrilled with the idea of sending you everywhere. My parents were not comfortable with the idea of me taking a bath in some other place. But I remained adamant,” Uzma recalls. 

Uzma was offered a Postdoctoral position at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), the USA in 2010 where she worked with one of the world’s best teams of Pharmacologists to understand lung diseases. In 2014, she moved back to India and continued her stint as a professor and researcher. 

She worked with Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal, and later, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Indore as a Senior Scientist. Currently, Uzma is working in collaboration with the University of Haifa, Israel for developing an anti-cancer drug.

Uzma’s mantra to deal with biases is to keep the needle focused on her career goals.

“When I was moving out of my hometown, many people came to me and warned me about the dangers of the world outside. But I stayed focused on what I wanted to do and kept moving forward,” she adds.