Anand Lalaji shares insights on finding inspiration, building trust, and leading with confidence in business and healthcare
Anand Lalaji’s journey begins in Hell’s Kitchen, New York—a neighbourhood known more for grit than comfort. From a young age, he learned the value of discipline from his parents. His dad was a nuclear engineer. His mum was an OB/GYN. Work ethic wasn’t taught. It was lived.
He went on to attend the Bronx High School of Science, where he balanced academics with varsity sports. In college at Binghamton University, he played volleyball as a setter and drummed in jazz bands. He liked working behind the scenes, setting the rhythm and helping others shine. That theme would follow him through life.
Anand became a doctor, training at some of the top institutions in the country—SUNY Downstate, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Wake Forest. He specialised in musculoskeletal radiology. But medicine, for him, was never just about science. It was about people.
Now the CEO and co-founder of The Radiology Group, Anand helps connect patients in underserved communities with the care they need. His leadership is calm, steady, and focused. He trusts people. He listens.
Outside of work, he supports causes like mental health, women’s sports leadership, and cancer research. He believes success is about showing up for others, not just achieving for yourself.
“I was a setter,” he says. “It was never about scoring. It was about making sure others could.”
In every part of his life—medicine, music, sport, or business—Anand builds the play so others can take the shot. That’s how he leads. That’s how he lives.
Q&A with Anand Lalaji: On Inspiration, Risk, and Confidence in the Journey
Q: You’ve built a successful career in healthcare and leadership. What originally inspired you to pursue medicine?
Anand Lalaji: It wasn’t a dramatic moment. I didn’t grow up saying “I want to be a doctor.” But I was surrounded by it. My mum was an OB/GYN. My dad was a nuclear engineer, very methodical, very structured. The dinner table wasn’t about feelings—it was about facts, science, and outcomes. That shaped me. I was naturally drawn to problem-solving and systems thinking. Over time, medicine became the best fit for how I thought and worked. Especially radiology—it’s about seeing things others don’t, and trusting your judgement in the quiet moments.
Q: That’s interesting. What do you mean by “quiet moments”?
Anand Lalaji: In radiology, you’re not standing in an ER yelling orders. You’re looking at a scan at 2am, and you’re the only one who sees it. Sometimes the decision you make in that quiet room changes someone’s life. One time during residency, I had a trauma patient come in after a crash. I spotted a subtle internal bleed that could’ve been missed. That’s when I realised the weight of responsibility in silence. You have to trust your training—and your instincts. That taught me a lot about confidence. Not arrogance—just a calm belief that you’ve put in the work to be ready.
Q: Speaking of confidence, how do you inspire confidence in others—your team, your partners, even in the business world?
Anand Lalaji: You can’t fake consistency. If I say I’ll show up, I do. That’s how I coach, that’s how I lead. People build confidence in you when you’re stable. In volleyball, I was a setter—not the one getting the points, but the one making the plays possible. That’s how I try to operate in business too. I don’t need to be the loudest person in the room. I just need to deliver.
In our radiology group, it’s the same. The people we hire know that when something goes wrong, they’ll be supported, not blamed. That creates safety, and safety creates confidence. And from there, people take smart risks.
Q: Were you always comfortable taking risks?
Anand Lalaji: No. I come from a conservative household—immigrant parents who valued security. So early on, risk made me uncomfortable. I chose the long path—four years undergrad, four years medical school, residency, fellowship. No shortcuts.
But once I started seeing how medicine was shifting—more corporate, less patient-focused—I realised sticking to the “safe” path might actually be riskier in the long run. That’s when I co-founded The Radiology Group. It was a risk, yes. We were leaving traditional systems and trying to do things differently. But it was also a calculated one. We knew our values and had clarity about our model.
Q: What inspires you now? What keeps you going in your current phase of life and work?
Anand Lalaji: I get inspired by people doing difficult, quiet work. Not the folks chasing the spotlight. The single mum getting her nursing degree at night. The radiologist working a shift that no one sees. The athlete who isn’t recruited but keeps training. Those people remind me why I started. Also, mentorship inspires me—helping someone grow into a leader or make a leap they weren’t sure they could take. When someone tells me, “You helped me see myself differently,” that means more than any award.
Q: You mentioned mentorship. How do you try to inspire others directly?
Anand Lalaji: I try not to preach. People don’t want speeches. They want examples. I try to live the example—whether it’s being reliable, being calm in chaos, or admitting when I’m wrong. Especially in medicine, confidence doesn’t mean pretending to know everything. It means knowing when to ask for help and modelling that for others.
And outside of work, we support young athletes—particularly women in volleyball—because sport teaches lessons that carry into life. I want to help build environments where young people feel empowered to lead, not just follow.
Q: Any final thoughts on what inspires success, especially in uncertain or competitive environments?
Anand Lalaji: You have to decide what success means to you before you chase it. For me, it’s doing meaningful work with people I respect. It’s being reliable under pressure. It’s setting others up to thrive. And maybe most importantly, it’s having a reason beyond yourself. That’s what gives you endurance when the excitement wears off.
Inspiration fades. Habits don’t. Build the right habits, and the confidence will come.
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