The recipient of a doctor of medicine from the University of Birmingham, Sanjiv M. Narayan subsequently completed fellowships at UCLA, Harvard University, and Washington University between 1991 to 2001, during which time he completed clinical training and studied extensively in the fields of cardiology, electrophysiology, neuroscience, and internal medicine. In 2001, Dr. Sanjiv Narayan was appointed on the faculty of the University of California San Diego, and as director of electrophysiology at Veterans Affairs Medical Center in San Diego. Over the course of 13 years, Dr. Narayan treated many patients including veterans with life-threatening heart rhythm disorders, taught medical students, and conducted research in heart rhyhm disorders, big data analysis and computer modeling to help to improve therapy. He was also named in Best Doctors of San Diego by the San Diego Medical Society.

Upon joining the Veterans Affairs medical center, Dr. Sanjiv M. Narayan helped establish it as a nationally-known program recognized for its excellence in clinical care and innovation that employed 13 medical professionals. During that same time, Dr. Narayan served as a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Diego, where he won multiple prizes for teaching. He presently holds a teaching position at Stanford University and is leading bioengineering innovation efforts at the Stanford Arrhythmia Center.