Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s Selects New Surgeon-in-Chief

LOS ANGELES (July 16, 2024) — Leading pediatric surgical oncologist Eugene Kim, MD, has been named the new surgeon-in-chief and associate director of Surgery at Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s. In these new roles, Kim will lead children’s surgical services, ensure the highest level of care for children and promote Guerin Children’s surgical research.

Kim will continue as director of the Division of Pediatric General Surgery and as vice chair of the Jim and Eleanor Randall Department of Surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Kim succeeds Andrew Freedman, MD, the inaugural associate director of Surgery at Guerin Children’s. Freedman will continue to serve as chief of Pediatric Urology.

“We congratulate Dr. Kim and recognize that with this appointment, our capacity to perform many different kinds of pediatric surgeries within the Guerin Children’s surgery department will greatly expand,” said Ophir Klein, MD, PhD, executive vice dean of Children’s Health at Cedars-Sinai and executive director of Guerin Children’s. “We wish Dr. Kim much success as he builds on the legacy of Dr. Freedman, whose leadership shepherded the dramatic growth of the Guerin Children’s surgical enterprise. We express our deep gratitude to Dr. Freedman—our program’s success is largely due to his efforts.”

In Kim’s expanded role, he will collaborate with the leadership of all pediatric surgical subspecialties and work with pediatric and surgery division chiefs to support the Guerin Children’s mission.

“It’s a great honor to step into this new leadership position,” Kim said. “I look forward to continuing to grow our children’s surgery program and strengthening Guerin Children’s as a premier destination for pediatric care.”

Kim is a research expert in neuroblastoma, an aggressive childhood cancer that begins in nerve cells. Among his contributions to the field, he and colleagues have identified a neuroblastoma cancer stem cell population resistant to treatment that may be a cause of recurrent and metastatic disease.

“Dr. Kim is an excellent investigator and surgeon, fully committed and eager to take our pediatric surgical program to the next level,” said Cristina Ferrone, MD, chair of the Department of Surgery. “His expertise will help countless pediatric patients and their families as they navigate critical treatment and surgery.”

Prior to joining Cedars-Sinai in 2022, Kim was a professor of Surgery and Pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. He also was director of Pediatric Surgical Oncology at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Kim is a past president of the Association for Academic Surgery, president of the Society of Asian Academic Surgeons, associate editor of the journal Frontiers in Pediatrics and the chief editor of pediatric surgical content for Drugs & Diseases.

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