Manoj Kanti Sen was born in Rangpur, Bengal, India. He was the third child and first son of Kamini Ranjan Sen, a teacher. He studied at the Rangpur Zilla School and the Chittagong Government College before proceeding to the R G Kar Medical College in Calcutta. He graduated MB BS in 1956 and then worked for a while at the Cancer Hospital in Calcutta. Moving to England he held posts at the Birch Hill Hospital, Rochdale; Lewisham Hospital, London; St Martin's Hospital, Bath; Bath and Wessex Orthopaedic Hospital; Gravesend and the North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary. He specialised in orthopaedics and was working as a consultant in Rochdale when he died. He did research on materials and methods of internal fixation of fractures of the long bones by screws and plates. In 1969 he married Diane Neale and they had two daughters. His interests were tennis and painting. He died suddenly following a heart attack on 3 March 1978.