Dr. Lee Kern was born in North Carolina and performed his undergraduate studies at NC State University, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science in 1992. He attended East Carolina University School of Medicine in Greenville, NC and was awarded his MD in 1996. His medical school training included the Merck Leadership Award in 1995 as well as Neuroscience research at Duke University as a Hartford Student Scholar.

He was accepted into the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas for his residency training. He completed a surgical internship in 1997. This was followed with formal Neurosurgical Residency training emphasizing spinal disorders as well as vascular disorders of the brain. He completed residency in 2002.