Daniel Kim was born in Seoul, Korea, on November 15th, 1962. He received his B.S. with honors in Chemical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma. He completed medical training at Tulane University in 1989, and continued his training with a residency in Neurosurgery at Louisiana State University in New Orleans. There he studied with Dr. David Kline, specializing in the surgical treatment of nerve sheath tumors and injuries to complex peripheral nerves. During this time he was a three-time recipient of the Dean H. Echols Award from the Louisiana State Neurological Society. He then completed a complex spine fellowship under the direction of Dr. Richard Fessler in the Departments of Neurosurgery and Orthopedics at the University of Florida prior to joining the faculty at Stanford in 1998. Dr. Kim served as the Director of Spinal Neurosurgery and Reconstructive Peripheral Nerve Surgery at Stanford from 1998-2005. Dr. Kim was promoted to Associate Professor at Stanford in 2001, and was named Professor in 2005. In 2007, Dr. Kim joined the faculty at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX

Dr. Kim is currently Professor of Neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine and directs the program in Spinal Neurosurgery and Reconstructive Peripheral Nerve Surgery. His group specializes in the surgical treatment of complex spine disorders and peripheral nerve injuries at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Ben Taub General Hospital, The Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, and MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is also working to build a comprehensive spine center at Baylor College of Medicine aiming to provide the full scope of treatment for spinal pain. Dr. Kim conducts research to develop minimally invasive spine surgical techniques and has designed an artificial vertebral disk. He publishes extensively on the biomechanics of spinal instrumentation, minimally invasive approaches to spine surgery, and treatment of peripheral nerve injuries and tumors. He has edited 9 books, and has published over 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals, and over 70 book chapters. He chairs and contributes to surgical workshops and symposia worldwide.

After a massive earthquake shook western India in 2001, Dr. Kim and colleagues at Stanford formed a medical team of anesthesiologists, surgeons, and nurses to perform major complex spinal and reconstructive surgeries on the injured in Guajarat, India. Dr. Kim organized another medical team in 2002, this time to Cusco Regional Hospital in Cusco, Peru. In addition to performing surgery for needy patients, this mission included training local medical staff. In both 2003 and 2004 Dr. Kim and his team reached out to Indonesia, performing surgery, training neurosurgeons, and arranging for continued training and treatment in the future.

Dr. Kim is a recent recipient of the Nordby-Smith Award for Minimally Invasive Surgery from the North American Spine Society. He is also a Fellow of the ACS (awarded in 2000), a Diplomate of the ABNS (1998), and an active member of several professional societies.