As a public health physician, Dr. Pachauri has been extensively engaged with research on family planning, maternal and child health, sexual and reproductive health and rights, HIV and AIDS, and poverty, gender and youth. In 1996, she joined as Regional Director, South and East Asia, Population Council and established its regional office in New Delhi which she managed until 2014. In 2011, she was awarded the prestigious title of Distinguished Scholar, an honor rarely bestowed.

She worked with the Ford Foundation’s New Delhi Office (1983-1994) and supported child survival, women’s health, sexual and reproductive health, and HIV and AIDS programs. Before that, she worked with the International Fertility Research Program (IFRP) which was later renamed Family Health International (1971-1975) and the India Fertility Research Programme (1975-1983). She designed and monitored multi-centric clinical trials globally to assess the safety and effectiveness of fertility control technologies. During 1962-1971, as faculty of the Departments of Preventive and Social Medicine at the Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi and the Institute of Medicine Sciences, Varanasi, she helped to develop this new discipline.

She has published seven books and contributed chapters to 20 books. She has over 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals and several articles in print media.