A graduate of London University, Dr. Sandhu is a urological surgeon by background and previously served as Professor of Medical Education at the University of Bristol where he has a visiting chair, and before that was Postgraduate Dean of the Severn Deanery in the South West of England, looking after approximately two and a half thousand postgraduate trainees in 65 specialties, with a budget of £90 million. He is the holder of the Bruce Medal for Education and Training.

He has several distinguished fellowships which include general and urological surgery, medicine, primary care, dentistry, maxillofacial surgery, and education. He has nearly 100 publications to his name with a special interest in health professions education including curriculum development, leadership and organizational change.