7 Quick Questions With Neurosurgeon Juan Sardi

Juan Sardi, MD, is a spine specialist at UVA Health. He treats patients with spine pathologies, which includes tumors, trauma, and back problems that develop as part of aging. His passion is helping people return to the activities they enjoyed before their spinal problems.

Get to know more about what inspires him and shapes his clinical approach in these 7 quick questions.

1. What has most inspired and shaped your approach to patient care?

My mentor. So there's actually a person who has inspired me in patient care, and that was a mentor I used to have when I was in med school. He's a neurosurgeon back home in Columbia. And every single patient that he treated, as soon as they left their office, they were always smiling and they always felt reassured about him. So the way he treated patients has really driven how I approach patients and how I want to treat my own.

2. What's your favorite part of your job?

Being in the surgery room.

3. What's your biggest fear as a patient?

Not understanding what I'm getting or not understanding what I have. I think that a lot of the times patients are scared, or a lot of the times patients are hesitant to get surgery, or to be treated, just because they don't really understand what their pathology is or what treatment they're having.

4. What do you do for stress relief?

I'm a big biker. I ride my bike and I jog every morning for at least an hour and a half or two hours.

5. Dogs or cats?

Dogs.

6. Last movie you watched? Thumbs up or down?

The last movie I saw was The Covenant. My favorite movie is Snatch with Guy Ritchie. I'm a Guy Ritchie Fan.

7. Best advice you've ever heard?

The best advice I ever heard was, "When you get married, you can either be right or be happy."