James Kang

James D. Kang is an American academic, orthopedic surgeon, and scientist, specializing in spinal surgery. He is Chair Emeritus of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and holds the Thomas S. Thornhill and Karen N. Thornhill Distinguished Professorship at Harvard Medical School.^[1] He has been cited over 22,000 times and has an h-index of 79.^[2]

Kang was born in Seoul, South Korea, and immigrated to the United States in 1967. He attended Putnam City High School in Oklahoma City, graduating in 1978. He earned a degree in chemical engineering from Washington University in St. Louis in 1982 and obtained his medical degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine in 1986. Kang completed his orthopedic surgery residency at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 1992, followed by a fellowship in spine surgery at Case Western Reserve University in 1993 under the direction of Henry Bohlman.^[3]

Following his fellowship, Kang joined the faculty of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where he was later promoted to full professor and appointed the UPMC Endowed Chair in Orthopaedic Surgery in 2007.^[4] He also served as the executive vice chairman for clinical services and director of the Ferguson Laboratory Musculoskeletal Research Center for Spine Research at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC).^[5]

In 2015, Kang was appointed chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at BWH, succeeding Thomas S. Thornhill.^[6] In 2016, he received the Thomas and Karen Thornhill Professorship at Harvard Medical School. After a ten-year tenure as chair, he transitioned to chair emeritus and distinguished professor at Harvard Medical School in 2025.^[7]

Kang has performed research on intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD), focusing on its biological and molecular pathomechanisms. His research established that disc cells are biochemically active, producing inflammatory cytokines that may contribute to back pain and radicular pain.^[8] His studies explored the interactions between aging and disc degeneration using animal models, leading to insights into inflammation and matrix degradation in IDD.^[9]

Kang also investigated molecular therapies for disc degeneration, including gene therapy.^[10] His studies demonstrated the feasibility of gene transfer into the disc and the therapeutic potential of enhancing matrix proteins. Additionally, he has conducted clinical research on spinal disorders, evaluating functional outcomes following cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spinal surgeries.^[11]

Kang has performed more than 14,000 spinal surgeries. He has authored over 300 peer-reviewed publications and more than 73 book chapters, as well as authoring a text book on Hip-Spine Syndrome.^[12] He has served as deputy editor of Spine as well for the spine section of the Journal of Orthopaedic Research (JOR).^[13][14]

Kang was appointed to the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (ABOS) in 2017.^[15] In 2024, he served as President of ABOS, overseeing the certification and maintenance of certification for orthopedic surgeons in the United States.^[15] In 2016, he was also president of the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine.^[16]

• Kang JD, Stefanovic-Racic M, McIntyre L, et al. "Towards a Biochemical Understanding of Human Intervertebral Disc Degeneration and Herniation: The Contributions of NO, Interleukins, PGE2, and MMPs." Spine, 22:1065-1073, 1997.
• Vo N, Seo HY, Robinson A, et al. "Accelerated Aging of Intervertebral Discs in a Mouse Model of Progeria." J Orthop Res 2010; 28(12):1600-7.
• Nishida K, Kang JD, Gilbertson LG, et al. "Modulation of the Biological Activity of the Rabbit Intervertebral Disc By Gene Therapy." Spine, 24:2419-2425, 1999.
• Leckie S, Bechara B, Hartman R, et al. "Injection of AAV2-BMP2 and AAV2-TIMP1 into the nucleus pulposus slows the course of intervertebral disc degeneration in an in-vivo rabbit model." The Spine Journal, 12(1):7-20, 2012.