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At the age of 10, Dr. Vandit Sardana stumbled across a restaurant-grade cream dispenser that the local Tim Hortons — Canada’s equivalent of Dunkin’ Donuts — had thrown out.

Thrilled, he picked up the broken machine and took it home. With a little tinkering he got it working again — and made his family kitchen, it’s safe to say, the only one around that could automatically dispense cream.

Fixing things was always fun for the board-certified orthopedic surgeon, who joined Beaufort Memorial Orthopaedic Specialists in the fall of 2018 from fellowship training in joint replacement. “I just like that,” he says. “I think it’s in me.” Ever confident, fearless even, he once pried the entire underside from his father’s car to replace some parts.

A Lifelong Interest in Fixing Things

His parents immigrated to the Toronto suburb of Oakville from northern India. The youngest of their three sons, Dr. Sardana played sports — hockey, soccer, basketball — but was “mostly a nerd,” he says, good in school and of course at fixing things.

At the University of Toronto he earned a bachelor’s degree in forensic science (its similarities to detective work intrigued him) and a master’s in physical chemistry.

Pondering careers in law and medicine, he hedged his bets, taking both the LSAT and the MCAT during his second year of college. Then, still undecided when admitted first to law school, he deferred his admission — as it turned out, permanently.

Medicine was always the odds-on choice. His grandfather was a doctor, and so are his two brothers, one an interventional cardiologist, the other a primary care specialist. He admits they influenced his decision.

Read More: 85-year-old Is One of Dr. Sardana’s Walking Endorsements

‘Best Opportunity’

Fast-forward to the joint replacement specialist’s first year of medical school at the University of Ottawa. During a lecture, an orthopedic surgeon invited interested students to come to his operating room (OR) and observe a surgery.

Needless to say, Dr. Sardana was in. The surgery he observed was a total hip replacement, and the story pretty much writes itself from there.

He asked to scrub in on another surgery, and another and another. One fine day the surgeon allowed him to place the second nail in a hip fracture. That, he says, still relishing the memory, was his “best opportunity.”

Given his aptitude for fixing things — not to mention what he describes as “a stable hand with the saw” — orthopedic surgery in general and joint replacement in particular were the perfect fit. “Those skills transition,” he says modestly. “I just learn and go.”

Read More: What Dr. Sardana Recommends for Achy Knees

Dr. Sardana and his wife, Joanna, a physical therapist by profession and a fellow Canadian, met as students in the library, which no doubt augurs well for the future success of their children, Sophia and Henry.

beaufort memorial orthopaedic surgeon dr vandit sardana smiles at camera with his wife Joanna and two children Sophia and HenryIn his hours out of the OR, the courteous, soft-spoken surgeon enjoys barbecuing and cooking the occasional Indian meal, cycling and ping-pong, reading (Malcolm Gladwell is a favorite), and, above all, spending time with Joanna and the kids.

Is knee or hip pain keeping you from doing the activities you love? Learn about all of your options for relieving and resolving pain from in-home exercises and medical management to physical therapy and surgery in the free Solving Hip and Knee Pain class.