Lakshmi Karthikeyan served as a Visiting Graduate Student at the Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, from August to December 2024, underwent specialized training in environmental health as part of the GEO-Health Early Career Training Program.

Her primary research interest lies in the impact of indoor air pollution on type 2 diabetes, particularly in rural Indian populations. During her time at Harvard, she completed essential coursework including Responsible Conduct of Research, and underwent training courses on-Epidemiological Methods I & II, Foundations of Environmental Health, and Statistical Methods to Analyze Environmental Exposures.

These courses provided her with a strong foundation in ethical research practices, environmental epidemiology, and advanced data analysis techniques. Her training emphasized the use of low-cost monitoring tools for assessing PM2.5 exposure, directly supporting her ongoing research on household air pollution and metabolic disorders. Currently she is working on the GEO Health funded project on the impact of fuel use and glycemic parameters in the rural population at her home institution-Madras Diabetes Research Foundation.