Paul D. Lamson obtained his undergraduate degree from Harvard University in 1906 and his medical degree from the Harvard Medical School in 1910. He interned in medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Lamson spent two years in Europe studying pharmacology with Faust in Wursburg and Cushny in London. Upon returning to the United States, Lamson worked as an assistant in medicine at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and then took up pharmacology at Johns Hopkins as an associate professor, where he remained from 1914-1925.

Lamson left Johns Hopkins to join the Vanderbilt medical faculty as the first Professor of Pharmacology in 1925. Lamson served as a professor and as head of the department from his arrival until 1952. He was editor of the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics from 1937-1940, and he was elected vice president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1943. Lamson is widely regarded for his pivotal research in the development of the remedy for hookworm disease.