Lakshmi Sharma
Doctor Lakshmi Sharma | |
|---|---|
लक्ष्मी शर्मा | |
 Official Portrait of Dr. Sharma for the Broad River University Website | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 3, 1974 Hyderabad, India |
| Citizenship | India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Height | 5 ft 2.1 in (158 cm) |
| Spouse | Pierre-Antoine Brochard (m. 2003) |
| Children | 1 |
| Alma mater | The Indian Institute of Science - Bangalore (BA. and MD.) University of Pennsylvania (Ph.D) Yale (MD.) |
| Known for | College Professor at Broad River University and being an Occasional Lecturer at Yale, Harvard, Oxford, and the Indian Institute of Science - Bangalore |
Dr. Lakshmi Sharma, Ph.D (born October 3, 1974, Lakshmi Anushka Sharma) is an Indian professor at United States based-Broad River University and the incumbent-President of the Broad River University School of Psychology and Neurology. Furthermore at Broad River University, Lakshmi is the current program organizer to the school's Bodily and Life Exchange Program.
Lakshmi is the author to two New York Bestselling books, a recipient of the American Neurological Association's Derek Denny-Brown Young Neurological Scholar Award, and is a Board Member to the IAAP (Indians to America Abroad Program).
Early life
Born on 3 October 1974, Lakshmi was born to Nikhil and Avanthika Sharma in the Indian city of Hyderabad. Nikhil, a former miner who by the time of Lakshmi's birth had transitioned to the world of business, and promptly after her birth, moved the family out of Hyderabad. They would end up moving to the Indian city of Visakhapatnam in the state of Andhdra Pradesh.
Lakshmi would grow up there, attending Kakatiya Public School. At first, Lakshmi was moving along with her class before scoring an exceptional score on a standardized test. With consent from her parents, Lakshmi would go on to skip grades three through seven, becoming the youngest student to ever graduate from Kakatiya Public School five years later at the age of twelve years old.
Known as a wonderkind to her teachers, she was offered a place at the University of New Delhi full ride, but would not pursue it once her father passed away only three weeks after graduation.
Lakshmi would end up applying to schools a year later and would get accepted into twenty-four schools located in India, Bangladesh, China, Pakistan, and Australia. She would end up committing to the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore where she would graduate early in a bachelors degree in neurology. She would soon gain a medical doctorate from there four years later in Neurosurgery. Making her the youngest recipient of a MD from IISB at the age of twenty.
Lakshmi would go to teach at IISB in their neurology department for four months before leaving India after getting accepted into American Ivy League school, University of Pennsylvania. After six additional years of schooling, Lakshmi would graduate with an academic doctorate in psychology and a minor in Feminine Studies.
Lakshmi would soon get job offers from schools across North America, Europe, and India, but would settle at the Ivy League University, Dartmouth.
Career
Starting in 1991, Lakshmi would become a part of the Dartmouth School of Psychology and Neurology department. She would start as a part-time professor before becoming a full fledged professor in the fall of 1993.
In 1995, Lakshmi would leave Dartmouth and become a professor at the British university of Oxford. During her time at Oxford, Lakshmi would be awarded the Derek Denny-Brown Young Neurological Scholar Award by the American Neurological Association. After seven years at Oxford, Lakshmi would leave in what she determined to be: "A time of realignment".
Lakshmi would go on to write two New York Bestsellers including: Indian Woman, Universal Mind, an autobiography of her life up to that point, and When in Hyderabad, a dramatized story based off of her father and mother meeting in the summer of 1969. During this time she resided in the small European country of Luxembourg.
In 2006, Lakshmi would return to teaching briefly at the American Ivy League university of Yale, she would leave only after one year. She would have a secondary 'time of realignment', before returning to Yale a year later. She would have a longer second tenure, earning her M.D. in neurobiology while being a professor during this time, but would end up leaving six years later in Fall of 2014.
In the Spring of 2015, Lakshmi would soon join the Westfield, North Carolina based public research university of Broad River University which many in her field called: 'The beginning of the end for a brilliant mind'.
Lakshmi would be elected to become the new President and Dean of the Broad River University School of Psychology and Neurology in 2016, and has held the distinction since.
Personal life
Lakshmi is fluent in six languages: English, Telugu, Bengali, French, American Sign Language, and her native Hindi.
Lakshmi would end up getting married to French-philosopher and professor, Pierre-Antoine Brochard, in 2003 after meeting at a conference while teaching at Oxford in 1999. Lakshmi and Brochard have one son, Sacha-Arjun (2004).
Lakshmi is known for her strong support for English Premier League club Arsenal, the American National Football League's Philadelphia Eagles, and supported the Indian National Cricket team during the 2019–2021 ICC World Test Championship.
Lakshmi is an extremely conservative Indian, and is the founder of Broad River University's Indian Alliance, an organization that was created in 2016 to bring together the university's Indian students and faculty in a safe space where they may enjoy authentic Indian cuisine, watch bollywood movies, and enjoy ones company. It is the only club at the university to have a ban on students using English while participating in club activities.
Lakshmi has stated that while she has lived in America for over fifteen years now, she does not have interest in gaining American citizenship. In 2020, Lakshmi endorsed Democrat-candidate Joe Biden in the Presidential Election.
Lakshmi has been vocal in her support for abortion, women's and LGBTQ+ rights, and green initiatives to the world. She does however not approve of America's involvement in the Middle East, stating how it was not their fight.