Paul Gyorgy was born in Nagyvarod, Hungary, in 1893. His schooling culminated in a Doctor of Medicine degree at the University of Budapest in 1915. As a microbiologist and biochemist, Gyorgy is credited with isolating riboflavin, discovering vitamin B6 (1934), and discovering the bifidus factor in human milk.

Shortly after World War I, Gyorgy received an appointment at Heidelberg, and from 1927 to 1933, he served as Professor of Pediatrics. In 1933, Gyorgy left Germany to become Research Fellow at the Nutrition Laboratory of Cambridge. In 1935, he came to Western Reserve University at Cleveland as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Pediatrics. Gyorgy was appointed Associate Professor as well as Associate Pediatrician at Babies & Childrens Hospital and at Rainbow Hospital of the University Hospitals of Cleveland in 1937.

Gyorgy moved in 1944 to the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, becoming Emeritus Professor in 1963. He was also Pediatrician in Chief at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvanie, 1950-1957, and chief of Pediatrics, Philadelphia General Hospital, 1957-1963.