Orli Langer’s job was different before she went into private practice. The hospital systems she worked in as a high-risk obstetrician/gynecologist were good hospitals, but she was beholden to the bottom line—she had to see a certain number of patients and she couldn’t always spend the time she wanted to with each.

Running her own shop in Passaic doesn’t take responsibility away—this is the first business she’s owned, and now those reliant on her include her staff along with her patients–but it brought in fresh joy.
Now, she said, she never feels rushed.

“Some patients require five minutes of my time, but some require an hour. I want to be there for those who really need it, she said. ”You don’t always have that luxury when you’re part of a big organization.”
Langer doesn’t deliver babies. Instead, she works alongside a woman’s primary doctor for the duration of her pregnancy once it’s determined to be high-risk. It’s a lot of ultrasounds, countless amniocenteses, and more. That means connecting with women during the most sensitive period of their lives.

“Pregnancy is the most amazing thing that ever happens in a woman’s life. Sometimes it’s a very scary occasion for them, and sometimes it’s not, but I get to be there with them,” Langer said. “And sometimes I’m able to get them out of a really high risk situation and help them go home with a healthy baby in their hands. That’s extremely rewarding.”

Some of her connections are lifelong. A number of years ago, a woman who had just arrived to the United States from Israel needed a high risk OB/GYN who was fluent in Hebrew. Langer, who moved to the states from Israel herself when she was 8, was the right fit.

A few years later, the woman reappeared again with a tap on her shoulder: their sons were in the same class together and would become fast friends.

Now the families vacation together.

Interpersonal feminine connection is important to Langer, personally and professionally.

“As women got more and more involved and became higher and higher in the workforce in America, I think the competition has gotten very high. It was a dog-eat-dog world. I think that’s the wrong way to do it,” she said. “I think we need to support each other and help each other and boost east other. No one knows what it’s like to be a full-time working mommy other than another full-time working mommy. I think it gives us a common understanding.”

Private practice, she said, is “a whole new world” compared to working within a hospital system.

“It’s a learning process. Where I am is very different from where I was two years ago and it’s very different from where I’ll be in five years. I never owned a business before. It’s much more comprehensive [than practicing medicine for a larger entity]. There’s so many more layers you’re thinking about. I love that,” Langer said.

An important aspect of her practice: setting the tone for her office. The environment, she said, starts at the top.

“If you’re the leader of that organization, and you treat people as equals and with respect and humanity, it fosters an environment where people want to reciprocate,” she said. “If you ask pleasantly and you say ‘please’ and you don’t try to be a monarch, I think people feel more comfortable. Then people want to do more for you and you develop more of a relationship with them. It all cycles in, and it just keeps getting better.”

Langer is being honored as a Top 25 entrepreneur by Leading Women Entrepreneurs on Oct. 21 in Newark, and will also be in attendance at LWE’s Force for Change event in Newark on Nov. 14.