Kenneth S. Cohen was born in 1937 and was raised and educated primarily in the Los Angeles, California, area before joining the U.S. Navy in 1959. The Navy sent him to a pharmacy school, and after an honorable discharge in 1963, he returned to San Diego State University to complete his bachelor's of science in microbiology in 1965. He entered a two-year master's program in biology but withdrew while writing his thesis out of necessity. He completed his education by seeking an off-campus degree, nine years later, from California Western University and was awarded a PhD in occupational health in 1976. He has been court qualified since 1974 as an expert witness in jurisdictions across the United States and has given testimony in nearly 1000 depositions and more than 500 court trials.