Born in Bangkok, Thailand, Dr. Lao arrived in the United States at the age of 15 to attend Cheshire Academy in Connecticut. Continuing his education at Yale University, he graduated summa cum laude and was accepted into the Tri-institutional MD/PhD Program, receiving his MD from the Weill Cornell Medical College and a PhD from the Rockefeller University. He then completed an internship in Internal Medicine at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and joined the Dermatology Residency Program at the Weill Cornell Medical Center and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan.

Deeply interested in improving patient care, Dr. Lao has participated in clinical trials in Bangladesh and New York City, volunteered on a medical mission to the Philippines to care for underserved patients and performed free skin cancer screenings in New York City. He has authored numerous scientific papers, been invited to speak at both national and international scientific conferences and served as an external reviewer of the MCG Health Ambulatory Care guidelines since 2015. With over 20 years of experience, Dr. Lao is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Dermatology at the Weill Cornell Medical College and an Attending Physician at the New York Presbyterian Hospital where he also volunteers teaching medical students and Dermatology Residents. He is a board-certified dermatologist, a fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology and a member of the Dermatologic Society of Greater New York.