Dr. Paul Yang was born in Taiwan and raised in Bellevue, Washington. He received his undergraduate degrees in bioengineering and biochemistry at the University of Washington in Seattle, during which he was awarded multiple summer research grants from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, as well as the Mary Gates Endowment for Students. He received doctorates in medicine and neurophysiology at Dartmouth Medical School, which was funded by an individual M.D./Ph.D. pre-doctoral national research service award from the National Institutes of Health. He completed an internship in internal medicine at the University of Utah, and residency and fellowship in ophthalmology at the Moran Eye Center in Salt Lake City.

It was during his time at the Moran Eye Center where he first developed an interest in inflammatory eye diseases and degenerative retinal disorders under the guidance of Drs. Albert Vitale, Paul Bernstein, and Donnell Creel. Thereafter, he pursued a fellowship in ocular immunology and uveitis with Dr. Stephen Foster at the Massachusetts Eye Research and Surgery Institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as well as a fellowship in ophthalmic genetics and inherited retinal degenerations with Richard Weleber, M.D., and Mark Pennesi, M.D., Ph.D., at Casey Eye Institute in Portland, Oregon.

During his training at Casey Eye Institute, Dr. Yang was funded by The Foundation Fighting Blindness under the Alan Laties Career Development Program, where he conducted laboratory studies to evaluate the effectiveness of immunomodulatory therapy in reducing secondary collateral damage in retinitis pigmentosa.

Dr. Yang is chief of the Paul H. Casey Ophthalmic Genetics Division and Martha and Eddie Peterson Endowed Professor at OHSU Casey Eye Institute. He also has special interest in gene therapy associated uveitis (GTU), autoimmune retinopathy, and cataract surgery in patients with inherited retinal degenerations. The focus of his research is to better understand the mechanisms of immune-mediated damage in inherited retinal degenerations and autoimmune retinopathy. With the support of the Foundation Fighting Blindness, he is currently conducting translational research in an effort to bring new medical treatments to the clinic for patients with retinitis pigmentosa. Dr. Yang is also principal investigator on multiple industry-sponsored retinal gene therapy clinical trials for inherited retinal degenerations.