Dr. Kim grew up in West Texas and received his medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in 1987. After beginning his general surgery training at Cook County Hospital and the University of Illinois in Chicago, Dr. Kim returned to Southwestern in 1989 for a two year research fellowship in basic laboratory research. He completed his general surgery training at the U.T. Southwestern Medical Center and Parkland Hospital in 1994. He spent two years additional years in basic science research at the National Institutes of Health before returning to U.T. Southwestern to join the faculty in 1996. He moved to Arkansas in 2002 to become Chief of Surgery at the VA Hospital. He also served as Professor in the Departments of Surgery and Medicine and Director of Endocrine Surgery at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. He moved to the University of North Carolina in 2013 to expand the program in Endocrine Surgery. He has extensive experience in basic science and clinical research, as well as administration.

Dr. Kim is a recognized expert in surgical diseases of the endocrine glands. He has written on a variety of topics related to these conditions (see below). He is co-editor of a major textbook on thyroid cancer published in 2017. He has served as Program Chair of the annual meeting of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons. He is currently Chair of the Endocrine Disease Site Workgroup for the Society of Surgical Oncology. He has been an invited speaker at national and international organizations including the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and the International Association of Endocrine Surgeons. He is particularly recognized in the use of office-based ultrasound for endocrine diseases and teaches ultrasound at national and international courses. He was recently elected to the Complex General Surgical Oncology Board of the American Board of Surgery, representing the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons.