Rajiv Malhotra completed his undergraduate training in Richmond, Virginia at the University of Richmond where he double-majored in Biology and Chemistry. He then completed his graduate training at the VCU Health System and obtained a Masters degree in Anatomy. He completed his medical training at the Touro University in San Francisco, California in 2004. Dr. Malhotra then returned to Richmond, where he did a residency in Internal Medicine followed by a fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. He did a year of concentrated training in Interventional Pulmonary Medicine. He started on faculty at VCU Health System in 2010 and became the Medical Director of the Cardiac Surgery ICU in 2013.