Dr. Arora was born in London, Ontario and obtained a Baccalaureate of Arts degree from the University of Western Ontario.  From there, he next achieved his Medical Doctorate from the University of Toronto in 1996 before moving to Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia to undergo his Cardiac Surgery Residency.  During his time in his residency in Dalhousie, he completed a Doctorate of Philosophy in the Department of Anatomy/Neurobiology in the field of neurocardiology. After completing two further years of training at the University of Calgary, in Calgary, Alberta, Dr. Arora became the first Cardiac Surgeon in Canada to also complete a fellowship in Critical Care Medicine in 2006.

Dr. Arora joined the Cardiac Sciences Program and the Section of Critical Care Medicine at the University of Manitoba as an Academic Clinician-Scientist in 2006. Dr. Arora was appointed the Director of Research for the Section of Cardiac Surgery in 2007 and was promoted to the Full Professor in Surgery, Anesthesia and Physiology & Pathophysiology at the University of Manitoba in 2016. In 2017 was appointed to Section Head of Cardiac Surgery for the WRHA and University of Manitoba.

In 2009, Dr. Arora has pioneered a national society, The CANadian CARdiovascular critical care (CANCARE) Society (www.cancaresociety.com) that aims to advance the care of critically-ill cardiovascular patients using interdisciplinary expertise in a cooperative model. In addition he is a Past-President of the American Delirium Society (2015) and a Co-Founder of the International Federation of Delirium Societies (iDelirium). More recently (2018) he has been appointed to the Executive of the Enhanced Recovery after Surgery Cardiac Surgery Society (ERAS-CS), Chair Society of Thoracic Surgeons Workforce for Critical Care (2019) and the President for the Canadian Society of Cardiac Surgeons (2020).

Dr. Arora is the Principle Investigator of the ALIVE to THRIVE (pAtient Centered incLusIVe research – Enhancing THe PeRIoperative experience) Research Lab, within the  Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences in St. Boniface Hospital Albrechtsen Research Centre. His research interests have concentrated on the enhancing recovery and care of the critically ill cardiac patient. He has specific focus on delirium and frailty in the older adult undergoing cardiovascular surgery. He has received funding from the CIHR, HSFC and the Canadian Frailty Network. Dr. Arora has over 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters and is an internationally invited speaker for his team’s clinical and research endeavors.