Dr Lakshmi Venkatesh is Professor (Speech Language Pathology) and Senior Consultant (Speech-Language Pathologist) at the Department of Speech Language Pathology, SRIHER. She also serves as Associate Dean (Students) at the University. She completed her PhD in Speech and Hearing Sciences from the University of Washington, Seattle, USA in 2007. She also completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Bioethics in 2015 from the National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai and Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi, a program run with funding support from NIH, USA.
Dr Lakshmi’s current areas of clinical and research interests include speech-language development and disorders with a focus on birth-to-six years of age and feeding and swallowing disorders across the lifespan. She recently completed a longitudinal study on speech-language and neurodevelopmental follow-up of children born preterm from one-to-three years of age funded by the SERB-DST, Government of India. She is currently guiding three PhD scholars and serves on nine other doctoral advisory committees. In a teaching, research and clinical career spanning 20 years, she has several research papers and chapters in conference proceedings to her credit.
Dr Lakshmi serves on university committees including the Academic Council- SRIHER, Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) and Institutional Ethics Committe for Student Proposals (UG & Non Medical PG). She is a member of the Department of Health Professional Education, SRIHER and Co-chairs the Health Sciences Education Unit -1. She is a member of the Board of Studies (ASLP) and has served as a member of the Board of Studies and Governing Councils of Dr S. R. Chandrasekhar Institute of Speech and Hearing, Bangalore and Sweekaar Rehabilitation Institute for Handicapped, Secunderabad. She is an active life member of several professional bodies, having served as the EC member (2010-2012), and Joint Secretary (2012-2015) of the National body – Indian Speech-Language & Hearing Association. She served as a member of the Rehabilitation Council of India – expert subcommittee on syllabus revision for PG programs (2016-17) and continues to serve as a visiting expert for the assessment of training programs.
The Acoustical Society of India awarded her the Prof. Rais Ahmed Memorial Lecture Award in 2013. Recently, she received the first prize for an oral paper presentation at the Neonatology Conference on Research and Expert Talks (NeoCORE-2019). She has received best paper awards at the ISHACONs (2013, 2010) and the DST- international travel grant (2013 & 2022). A recipient of scholarships from the Tata Trusts for pursuing higher education, she also received the International Student Scholarship from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation (2005). She was a recipient of the Aarthi Venkataraman Memorial Gold Medal & P.D. Manohar Endowment Gold Medal for MSc. Speech & Hearing (2001) from the University of Mysore and was ranked first in final examinations during B.Sc. Audiology & Speech Rehabilitation, University of Mumbai (1997-99).
Speech-language development and disorders in children with a focus on birth-to-six years of age; Understanding language disorders in Tamil; Caregiver-implemented intervention for speech-language disorders; Feeding and Swallowing disorders across the lifespan
Supervisor and Co-investigator for Patrice L. Engle Dissertation Grant in Global Early Child Development – 2019 to Ms. Adhirai G for the project titled Morphosyntactic skills among preterm children speaking an inflectionally rich Indian language – Tamil. 2019-2022; $5000 ( Rs.3,55250/-)
Primary investigator in “Development of speech-language and neurodevelopmental skills among preterm children: A prospective longitudinal study”, Science and Engineering Research Board- Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India 2016-2020; Rs. 32,21,702/-
(Co-investigators: Prof. Roopa Nagarajan, Dr Prakash Boominathan, Dr Binu Ninan)
Chancellor Shri V R Venkataachalam Award for Best Research Publication – 2022 in the Faculty of Audiology and Speech Language Pathology and the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences for the research paper titled ” Visual-perceptual function of children using the developmental test of visual perception-3″ published in Clinical and Experimental Optometry (Scopus Indexed; Q1; Impact factor:3.14)
Award received on the Founder’s Day & University Day on 20.09.2023
Appreciation of Clinical Excellence Award in the field of Speech Language Pathology awarded by the Department of Audiology & Speech Language Pathology, Holy Cross College (Autonomous), Tiruchirappalli at the National Conference on “Elucidating the Diversities in Dysphagia Assessment and Management”- Facilitative Learning on Advancements in Speech & Hearing- HCC FlaSH (Series VI) organized from 10th -12th November 2022.
Team award for Teaching Excellence -2021, awarded for contribution to the Health Sciences Education Unit at SRIHER.
Award received on the Founder’s Day & University Day on 20.09.2022
Life Memberships