Saroj Pachauri is the regional director for South and East Asia. She manages the Population Council's research, policy, and dissemination program in the region. She is a community health physician who has been extensively engaged with research on reproductive health.

Prior to joining the Council, Pachauri worked for the Ford Foundation, where she developed the foundation's child survival and reproductive health programs. She also initiated work on HIV and AIDS when there was no national program in India. She began her career as a faculty member of two departments of preventive and social medicine in India, which she helped establish. From 1971 to 1983, Pachauri worked with Family Health International and conducted research on international health issues, especially clinical trials on fertility control technologies.

Pachauri was awarded the Grant's Gold Medal for securing first position in the diploma of public health examination at the University of Calcutta. She achieved a distinction in preventive and social medicine in M.B.B.S. (equivalent to an M.D.) and in the premedical examination. Pachauri specialized in community medicine. She has published extensively on policy and implementation issues related to family planning, maternal and child health, HIV and AIDS, and reproductive tract infections, and has given presentations at conferences and workshops around the world.