Choll Kim, MD, is a spine surgeon at the San Diego Spine Institute and an expert in computer-assisted minimally invasive spine surgery. He has trained specialists nationwide to use image guidance and navigation technologies. He treats all aspects of complex spinal disorders, including spinal stenosis, spinal deformities, traumatic injuries, tumors and infections of the spine, from neck to low back.
Dr. Kim founded the Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery and directs the Minimally Invasive Spine Center at Alvarado Hospital in San Diego. He is also an associate clinical professor at UC San Diego. He is a voting member of the FDA Orthopedic Devices Panel and member of the North American Spine Society, as well as the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. He has been published or presented topics almost 200 times.
While Dr. Kim has had a successful career as a spine surgeon, he describes how a difficult moment in his personal life changed the way he look at his role as a surgeon. His father became ill and he learned what it was like to be on the other end of the relationship — as a family member of an ill loved-one.
"I decided that caring for my patients requires not only that I am capable of performing state-of-the-art surgeries, but that I must care for my patients emotionally, and treat them as I would like my own family to be treated," Dr. Kim says in a quote on the San Diego Spine Institute's website.
Dr. Kim received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in Boston, was a resident orthopedic surgeon at UC San Diego and completed a spine surgeon fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. He was born in Rangoon, Burma.
Spine Surgeon Leader to Know: Dr. Patrick O'Leary of Hospital for Special Surgery
Spine Surgeon Industry Leader to Know: Dr. Todd Albert of Rothman Institute
Dr. Kim founded the Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery and directs the Minimally Invasive Spine Center at Alvarado Hospital in San Diego. He is also an associate clinical professor at UC San Diego. He is a voting member of the FDA Orthopedic Devices Panel and member of the North American Spine Society, as well as the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. He has been published or presented topics almost 200 times.
While Dr. Kim has had a successful career as a spine surgeon, he describes how a difficult moment in his personal life changed the way he look at his role as a surgeon. His father became ill and he learned what it was like to be on the other end of the relationship — as a family member of an ill loved-one.
"I decided that caring for my patients requires not only that I am capable of performing state-of-the-art surgeries, but that I must care for my patients emotionally, and treat them as I would like my own family to be treated," Dr. Kim says in a quote on the San Diego Spine Institute's website.
Dr. Kim received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in Boston, was a resident orthopedic surgeon at UC San Diego and completed a spine surgeon fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. He was born in Rangoon, Burma.