Paul Yock is the Martha Meier Weiland Professor of Medicine and founding cochair of Stanford University’s Department of Bioengineering, with a courtesy appointment in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He is also the founder and director of the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign. He previously founded Cardiovascular Imaging Systems (acquired by Boston Scientific) and cofounded several other medical technology companies. The main focus of his research has been intravascular ultrasound.

Dr. Yock is known internationally for his work in inventing, developing, and testing new devices, including the Rapid Exchange™ stenting and balloon angioplasty system, which is now the primary system in use worldwide. He also invented a Doppler-guided access system known as the Smart Needle™ and PD-Access™. Among his 50 US patents, he wrote the fundamental patents for mechanical intravascular ultrasound imaging, for which he helped conduct the initial clinical trials. 

He has authored over 300 peer-reviewed publications, chapters, and editorials, and two textbooks. Recent awards include the Transcatheter Therapeutics (TCT) Career Achievement Award, the American College of Cardiology Distinguished Scientist Award, and an honorary doctorate from Amherst College. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Association of American Physicians.

After completing his undergraduate and graduate studies at Amherst College and Oxford, respectively, Dr. Yock received his MD from Harvard Medical School, followed by internship and residency training at the University of California, San Francisco, and a fellowship in cardiology at Stanford. He began his faculty career as an interventional cardiologist at UCSF and moved to Stanford in 1994.