Kenneth Dayton Johnson was educated at the University of Florida and at Emory University School of Medicine. After completion of his postgraduate training in Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Utah, he received a fellowship training in Orthopaedic Traumatology at the University of Washington. Johnson subsequently held academic positions at the University of Texas as Assistant and Associate Professor and served as Director of Orthopaedic Trauma at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. In 1988 he became Associate Professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, his clinical duties as Chief of Orthopaedic Trauma. Johnson was promoted to Professor of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation in 1992.