Dr. Kelly Johnston

Dr. Johnston received his medical degree at the University of Alberta in 2001 and completed his residency in Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Calgary in 2006. Following his residency, he pursued subspecialty training in adult hip and knee reconstruction, hip joint preservation, and trauma. He completed fellowships at the University of Auckland in New Zealand in 2007 and the University of California, San Diego in 2008.

Dr. Johnston is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Calgary and has practiced in Calgary since 2008. He is an attending orthopaedic surgeon at the Rockyview General Hospital and has served as the Division Chief for Hip and Knee Joint Reconstruction at the University of Calgary from 2014-2024. He is currently the Division Chief for Hip Preservation Surgery.

Dr. Johnston is an active member of many national and international surgical societies where he is an invited speaker and educator. Dr. Johnston is passionate about advancing his field and produces research papers on hip and knee surgery, many of which are published in international journals. He has a keen interest in rapid recovery Direct Anterior Total Hip Replacement, minimally invasive Total Knee Replacement and Robotic-assisted surgery.

Dr. Johnston deciphers why hips become arthritic and is a specialist in diagnosis and treatment of hip dysplasia and impingement. When he is not replacing hips, he is trying to save them! He operates on young adults to fix structural problems that lead to hip pain and ultimately arthritis. He is an expert at Hip Arthroscopy and re-alignment surgeries around the hip (peri-acetabular osteotomy and proximal femoral osteotomy). His referral practice for these surgeries spans western Canada.

Dr. Johnston has a busy public practice in Calgary but also works with Clearpoint Health Network and is able to use his skill set to help people from all over Canada.

Dr. Johnston makes time to work internationally with Samaritan’s Purse doing short term mission work in Africa.

Outside of clinical practice, Dr. Johnston can be found enjoying the outdoors with his wife and teenage children.