Arnold Coran was born 1938, in Boston. He graduated from Harvard College in 1959 and Harvard Medical School in 1963. His training in general and thoracic surgery was done at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, and in pediatric surgery at the Children's Hospital Medical Center, Boston, where he served as the last resident of Dr. Robert E. Gross. In 1972, he was appointed Head of Pediatric Surgery at the Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center and Assistant/Associate Professor of Surgery at USC Medical School. In 1974, he assumed his position as Head of the Section of Pediatric Surgery and Professor of Surgery at the University of Michigan Medical School and Surgeon-in-Chief of C. S. Mott Children's Hospital, where he established the Section of Pediatric Surgery and initiated the pediatric surgery residency in 1986. On July 1, 2005, Dr. Coran stepped down from both of these positions, and presently is a Professor of Surgery in the Section of Pediatric Surgery.

Dr. Coran is a member of numerous national and international organizations, including the American Pediatric Surgical Association, American Surgical Association and the Society of University Surgeons. He is the past Chairman of the Advisory Council for Pediatric Surgery of the American College of Surgeons and served as the Chairman of the Surgical Section of the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2000. He is the current President of the American Pediatric Surgical Association (2000-2002). He served on the Overseas Council of the British Association of Pediatric Surgeons. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Pediatric Surgery International, and Associate Editor of the Journal of Pediatric Surgery. He is an Editor of the two volume textbook Pediatric Surgery, Essentials of Pediatric Surgery, and Rob & Smith's Pediatric Surgery. He is on the Editorial Board of several other journals and is the author of over 350 journal articles, 120 book chapters, and 20 books. A list of Dr. Coran's publications is available.