About Dr. Murali Naidu:
Dr. Murali Naidu is CEO of San Ramon Regional Medical Center and a former physician. He’s led hospitals through some of the hardest moments in healthcare, especially during COVID, and he’s also deeply involved in education as a trustee at Head-Royce School. What really stood out to me about Dr. Naidu is how he thinks about leadership—not just as running systems, but as taking care of people, whether that’s patients, students, or entire communities. We talked about healthcare, AI, risk-taking, being Indian American, and how to define success without boxing yourself in. This was one of those conversations that makes you think bigger about what you can actually do with your life.
What was most fun about this conversation:
Honestly, the most fun part was how grounded he was. He’s literally running a hospital, but he talks like someone who genuinely just cares about people doing well. Hearing about how hospitals had to set up tents in parking lots overnight during COVID was wild, but what stuck with me was how much respect he had for nurses, janitors, and everyone who showed up every day when the rest of the world stayed home. Also, his answers never felt rehearsed. It felt like he was actually thinking in real time, which made the conversation feel very real.
What I was inspired by:
I was really inspired by how he talked about success. He kept coming back to this idea that if you do something well and actually care about it, the money usually follows. But if you chase money first, that doesn’t always work out. That felt especially relevant as someone in high school where everything feels like it’s about college, jobs, and outcomes. I also liked how open he was about switching paths.
What many of us Americans can relate with:
A lot of what he said applies way beyond Indian American families. The pressure to define success as money or prestige. Feeling like you’re supposed to pick one path early and never change it. Being judged based on how you look, your name, or your background. Even the idea of feeling like you don’t fully belong anywhere, not here, not there, that’s something a lot of people feel, whether they’re second generation Americans or not. His point about being okay with making the wrong choice and pivoting later felt very American in the best way.
What I will think more about:
He said something that stuck with me: instead of squeezing yourself into a job that already exists, try to imagine what you actually want your day-to-day life to look like and then go find or create that role. That idea feels kind of scary but also freeing. It made me rethink how rigid we are when we talk about careers, especially in high school. Also, his hope that AI could bring doctors back to the bedside instead of turning healthcare into even more paperwork made me think about how technology should serve people, instead of replacing them.
How this conversation connects to others on the podcast:
What I liked about this episode is how naturally it connected to almost every other conversation I’ve had on this podcast. Like Gagan Biyani, Dr. Naidu shared the idea of not letting one job title or career path define your whole life. Both of them talked about success as something you shape over time, not something you lock in at 18. The idea of designing your own role instead of squeezing yourself into one felt very aligned with Gagan’s story.
His emphasis on care and humanity in work reminded me a lot of Dr. Nirav Pandya. Even though one works in hospital leadership and the other in sports medicine, both talked about medicine as something deeply human, not just technical. They both pushed back against the idea that being good at your job means being cold or robotic.
Dr. Naidu’s thoughts on leadership and redefining success also echoed themes from Dr. Neha Gupta and Dr. Rajni Mandal, especially around resisting narrow expectations placed on Indian Americans. All three talked about ambition without burnout, and how success doesn’t have to mean sacrificing your values or your sense of self.
When he talked about community and responsibility, I kept thinking about Divya Venn, Sy Choudhury, and Maulik Bhansali. They’ve all spoken about giving back, whether through public service, entrepreneurship, or community building. Dr. Naidu’s work in both healthcare and education fits right into that same mindset of using your position to help others grow.
His reflections on identity and being caught between worlds connected strongly with Prashanthi Raman, Janani Ramachandran, and Visraant Iyer. The feeling of not fully belonging in one box, culturally or professionally, came up in all of those conversations. What stood out here was how calmly and honestly Dr. Naidu talked about it, not as a crisis, but as something you learn to live with and even use as strength.
And finally, his focus on care, prevention, and long-term thinking felt very aligned with Dr. Rupa Badlani. Both of them talked about systems, healthcare, and responsibility in a way that felt grounded and people-first, not flashy or preachy.
Across all these episodes, the shared theme keeps coming back to this: you don’t have to be one thing.
You can be Indian and American.
Analytical and empathetic.
Ambitious and grounded.
This conversation with Dr. Naidu tied together a lot of the ideas this podcast has been circling around from the beginning.
