Wollongong Diagnostics’ Dr Arunima Gupta is now incorporating cardiac MRI services. Photo: Supplied.
When Dr Arunima Gupta opened an imaging clinic in Wollongong in 2011 with just four people, the message from the industry was “you won’t survive”.
Fifteen years later, she and her husband Dr Alok Gupta now lead a growing network of independent radiology practices under Wollongong Diagnostics, with six radiologists across multiple Illawarra sites and a foothold in Sydney.
“We had people telling us, ‘You’re not going to survive; we’re happy to buy you out,’” Dr Gupta said.
“For us, it was surviving against the tide.”
Her latest expansion has been launching the more niche cardiac MRI services, which reflects the same instinct that brought her into private practice in the first place: a willingness to step into “uncharted territory” if it means better care for patients.
Raised and trained in India, she completed her postgraduate radiology training in 1997, before undertaking a clinical observership at the University of Illinois in Chicago.
When she and Alok were later faced with staying or looking abroad, family connections in Australia helped draw them to Wollongong, where they eventually faced another choice: whether to join a large corporate imaging group, or start something small and independent.
They decided to open a small space with just four staff.
“It was very daunting,” she said.
“For us, the achievement was to sustain, to survive and to survive well, and to keep growing.
“From one very little practice, we are now four in the Illawarra and one in Sydney.”
About five years ago, Dr Gupta pushed beyond her head and neck specialty into cardiac CT, undertaking two years of coronary imaging training in Sydney.
“It was something completely out of my comfort zone,” she said.
“I do more of the neuro, and head and neck work. That’s my niche. Cardiac CT was very much a cardiologist’s domain.
“This was uncharted territory.”
She gradually built relationships with cardiologists and now receives cases from across the Illawarra and Sydney, some resulting in urgent hospital referrals.
“So many times we’ve picked up cases where the patient needs to go straight to hospital,” she said.
After the warnings about the independent radiology practice not surviving, she found herself hearing a similar message about her next big idea – cardiac MRI services.
A more complex and complete form of heart imaging, cardiac MRI was “always on the horizon” for Dr Gupta.
“Cardiac MR is such a difficult modality, in the sense that you really need to be trained to read it,” she said.
“It’s not just about structural assessment; it’s about the physiology of the heart.”
When she first floated the idea of cardiac MRI services, cardiologists admitted they wanted it but in turn also tried to talk her out of it.
“They said, ‘Aru, don’t do it. It’s not commercially viable. You’ll get one case in a month, and you’re going to put in so much money.’”
She went ahead anyway, completing courses in Adelaide and India, and lining up a three‑month fellowship in London next year to deepen her expertise.
The turning point came when Dr Imran Rashid, a cardiologist who grew up in the Illawarra and whose parents were GPs, returned home after training in London with cardiac MRI as his research area.
“I thought, maybe the stars are aligning. I said, ‘No, I’m not going to wait now. Let’s go ahead and do the cardiac MRI launch,” Dr Gupta said.
That launch is now taking shape as a fully booked “Matters of the Heart” education evening on 24 September, bringing together GPs and cardiologists to hear about the new service and meet Dr Rashid.
With the cost of cardiac MRIs prohibitive for many patients, Dr Gupta said she would now like to see the government expand rebates to avoid leaving patients to cover most of the expense themselves.
“Cardiac MRI is such a great modality,” she said.
“We need to start investing more into the modalities that are going to be a game changer, because then we’re going to add so much value to patient care.”
Outside the practice, her life is similarly busy.
Wollongong Diagnostics supports charities, sporting clubs, and high-achiever public school students with laptops.
“That’s the next generation. We just want to invest in that,” she said.
She also leads a theatre group that stages Indian productions in English, and a few years ago donned sequins for Stars of Wollongong, raising about $30,000 for charity.
This month, her attention has been on the biennial Taj Mahal Charity Dinner, where about 500 guests will watch organisers attempt to compress a seven‑day Indian wedding into less than an hour while raising funds for Illawarra charities.
“We thought, how about we showcase a full Indian wedding?” she said.
“It was a daunting task, but the moment we approached people, they said, ‘We are in; we’ll help you out.”
