Dr. Richard Garner was born in Canada and grew up on Vancouver Island, B.C. He graduated from the University of British Columbia with a double Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry and zoology, enrolled in Johns Hopkins Medical School, and became a U.S. citizen at age 27.

While in residency in Louisville, he received a scholarship from the American Rheumatological Society, which allowed him to study for one year at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford, England. There, he observed some of the earliest total joint surgeries as well as visiting Sir John Charnley in Birmingham, England.