During his time at University of Virginia, Peter O. Kohler was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon, the Raven Society, Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa, T.I.L.K.A., the Z Society, the football team, the V Club, the IFC, Phi Eta Sigma and the Peters Rushton Seminar Committee.

Following graduation with an English major, he went to Duke Medical School. After post-graduate training at Duke and Georgetown, Dr. Kohler began his career in medicine at the National Institutes of Health, where he ultimately served as the Head of the Endocrinology Service for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). From the NIH, Dr. Kohler went to Baylor College of Medicine where he served as Professor of Medicine and Chief of Endocrinology.

In 1977, Dr. Kohler became Chairman of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and later interim Dean of the College of Medicine. He next went to University of Texas in 1986 as Dean of the University of Texas Medical School in San Antonio.

Selected as President of the Oregon Health Sciences University in 1988, Dr. Kohler became involved in state health policy and education issues. He served as Chair of the Oregon Health Council. In 1995, Dr. Kohler led OHSU in a successful effort to establish itself as a free-standing public benefit corporation. He retired as President of OHSU in September 2006 after 18 years of service and is now President Emeritus of OHSU. Following his first retirement, Dr. Kohler moved near children in Arkansas and joined UAMS as Vice Chancellor to help create a regional campus in the northwest corner of the state. He retired again in 2016 and is currently CEO of a new generic drug manufacturing company, OurPharma.

Dr. Kohler has been Chair of the NIH Endocrinology Study Section and the NICHD Board of Scientific Counselors. He was also Chair of the Endocrinology Board of the American Board of Internal Medicine. He completed a four-year term on the National Advisory Research Resources Council of the National Institutes of Health. He served on and as chairman of the Board of the Association of Academic Health Centers. In addition, he has served on various corporate and non-profit boards and he was a Director of the Portland Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

Dr. Kohler was elected to the Institute of Medicine, now the National Academy of Medicine, in 1994. He served on an IOM Task Force evaluating telemedicine, and chaired the IOM Committee on Quality in Long-term Care.

Dr. Kohler, and his wife, Judy, have four children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.