Lisa Ling Husband Paul Song: Inside Their Marriage and Family Life

Lisa Ling has spent much of her career asking difficult questions and entering communities that most television viewers would never otherwise see. Her husband, Dr. Paul Song, has followed a very different professional path, but his career is every bit as demanding. Song is a physician, biotechnology executive and health care advocate who has been married to the journalist since 2007.

The couple met through mutual friends in 2006, became engaged later that same year and married in Los Angeles in May 2007. Nearly two decades later, they remain together and are raising two daughters, Jett and Ray.

Song has never simply been a celebrity spouse standing quietly beside Ling at events. He trained as a radiation oncologist, spent years treating cancer patients and eventually moved deeper into biotechnology. As of September 2026, he serves as chairman and chief executive officer of NKGen Biotech, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing natural killer cell therapies. Recent regulatory filings continue to identify him as the company’s chief executive.

Behind those professional titles, though, Ling has often shown a much more ordinary side of her husband. He cooks, handles laundry, helps with school activities and is an enthusiastic father to their two girls. The combination makes the story of Lisa Ling’s husband considerably more interesting than a simple celebrity marriage profile.

Who Is Lisa Ling’s Husband Paul Song?

Paul Y. Song is a physician and biotechnology executive whose medical background is in radiation oncology.

Before moving into biotechnology full time, Song spent years working with cancer patients at hospitals and treatment centers. His professional training included medical school at George Washington University followed by radiation oncology residency training at the University of Chicago. He also completed specialized fellowship work connected with cancer treatment and research.

Song’s career eventually expanded well beyond day-to-day clinical medicine.

Today, he leads NKGen Biotech as chairman and CEO. The company is focused on natural killer cell therapies and is studying potential applications in neurological diseases and cancer. NKGen’s current leadership information names Song as both chairman and chief executive, while recent SEC filings from 2026 also carry his signature as the company’s principal executive officer.

It is quite a shift from the traditional path of a physician who spends an entire career inside hospitals.

Song had already moved between medicine, research, business and public health interests long before taking his current role. His background helps explain why Ling and Song have often appeared well matched professionally. Both have careers that involve complicated subjects, long hours and a strong interest in issues affecting real people.

Ling’s work has taken her around the world for stories about communities, health, culture and social problems. Song’s work has placed him inside hospitals, laboratories and biotechnology companies.

They may work in different industries, but neither has exactly chosen the quiet career route.

How Did Lisa Ling and Paul Song Meet?

Lisa Ling and Paul Song met through mutual friends in 2006.

At the time, Ling was already an established journalist. She had become widely known through The View and had moved into the kind of field reporting that would eventually define much of her career.

Her personal life had recently changed as well. Ling had ended an earlier engagement in 2005. Not long afterward, she was introduced to Song.

Their relationship moved fairly quickly.

By the end of 2006, Song was ready to propose. He arranged the engagement during the holiday season while the couple were in Chicago, where they were living at the time. The proposal took place in a private dining area at Charlie Trotter’s, and Song made sure both families were there for the moment.

He had flown relatives in so they could share the celebration. The engagement was publicly announced in early January 2007.

Only a few months later, Lisa and Paul were married.

Their quick progression from meeting to engagement might sound rushed, but the relationship clearly had staying power. In May 2027, they will reach 20 years of marriage.

Lisa Ling and Paul Song’s Wedding

Lisa Ling and Paul Song married on May 26, 2007, in Los Angeles.

The wedding was a large celebration, with hundreds of guests reportedly attending. At the time, Song was working as an oncologist and Ling’s journalism career involved frequent travel, so the couple were already familiar with the challenge of coordinating two unusually busy professional lives.

Their wedding also brought together people from different areas of Ling’s life. She had spent years reporting on people and communities rather than remaining inside the entertainment world, and her guest list reportedly reflected some of those connections.

What followed was not an especially quiet marriage in terms of careers.

Ling continued traveling extensively. Her work eventually included projects for National Geographic, OWN, CNN, Max and CBS, among others. Song continued developing his career in medicine and biotechnology.

The couple nevertheless built their home life in Southern California. Current professional biographies for Ling continue to describe her as living in Santa Monica with Song and their daughters.

Paul Song Trained as a Cancer Doctor

Long before biotechnology became the main focus of his career, Song trained to treat cancer patients.

After completing high school in New Jersey, he studied biological sciences at the University of Chicago and graduated with honors in 1987. He then attended George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, receiving his medical degree in 1991.

Song returned to the University of Chicago for his radiation oncology residency and served as chief resident.

He later pursued additional specialist training, including a visiting fellowship in brachytherapy in France and research connected with radiation-induced gene therapy. His professional career included medical roles in Virginia, Washington, D.C., Illinois and California.

In Los Angeles, Song worked at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and also spent years treating patients through another oncology program.

One particularly notable part of his clinical background was volunteer work treating patients who were uninsured or relied on Medicaid.

Eventually, however, biotechnology took up more and more of his professional attention.

What Does Paul Song Do Now?

Song is currently chairman and CEO of NKGen Biotech.

He has been connected with the company for years, holding senior medical and operational roles before eventually moving into its top leadership position. NKGen says its work centers on natural killer cells, a type of immune cell, and the development of cell-based therapies for neurological disorders and cancers.

Company records show that Song became CEO in 2023 and chairman of the board in 2024. His medical training gives him an unusual perspective as someone working at the intersection of patient care, scientific research and commercial drug development.

His position remains current in 2026. A September 2 SEC filing was signed by Song as NKGen’s chief executive officer, providing recent confirmation that he continues to lead the business.

Song has described his move toward biotechnology as something deeply personal.

His father’s experiences as a scientist had a lasting influence on him. Song has spoken publicly about watching his father work hard while facing professional barriers and later thinking seriously about what kind of legacy he wanted to create himself. His father’s death helped push him to reconsider what he wanted from the next stage of his own career.

That eventually contributed to his decision to take bigger leadership roles within biotechnology rather than remaining solely in clinical medicine.

Lisa Ling and Paul Song Have Two Daughters

Lisa and Paul are parents to two daughters, Jett Ling Song and Ray Ling Song.

Their journey to parenthood was not completely straightforward.

Ling experienced a miscarriage in 2010, something she later discussed publicly. The couple eventually welcomed Jett in March 2013. Their second daughter, Ray, arrived in June 2016.

As of September 2026, Jett is 13 and Ray is 10.

Although their parents are both prominent professionally, the girls have not been pushed constantly into the public eye. Still, Lisa and Paul occasionally share glimpses of family life, and Song’s social media presence in particular has revealed just how enthusiastic he is about being a father.

He proudly describes himself as a “girl dad.”

His posts have shown him attending activities, participating in family costumes, going to dance events and finding ways to take part in whatever interests his daughters at the time.

Basketball is especially important in the Song household.

Paul played basketball himself when he was younger and remains an enthusiastic sports fan. Ray developed an interest in basketball as well, giving father and daughter something they can practice together. Song has shared clips of their basketball sessions and has jokingly acknowledged that she may already be better than he was at the same age.

Those small details offer a different picture from his formal corporate biography.

At work, Song is talking about clinical trials and biotechnology. At home, he might be practicing basketball with his daughter or making sure everything is ready for a school activity.

Paul Song Is a Hands-On Husband at Home

One thing Lisa Ling has made clear is that her husband’s contribution to their family does not stop when his working day ends.

In a 2025 social media post, Ling praised Song for handling everyday responsibilities that are hardly glamorous but matter enormously in a busy household.

She described him as someone who washes, folds and puts away laundry, cooks and bakes for the family, supports school fundraisers and makes sure practical things are taken care of before family activities.

It sounds simple, but it says something about how their marriage seems to operate.

These are two people with unusually demanding careers. Ling’s journalism has required extensive travel and long stretches immersed in difficult stories. Song’s medical and biotechnology career has its own intense schedule.

For a marriage like that to work, somebody cannot simply assume that household responsibilities belong to the person with the less visible job. In their case, both careers are visible and demanding.

Their family life appears much more collaborative.

A 2024 report on America’s “sandwich generation” offered another glimpse inside that reality. Ling and Song were balancing raising their daughters with helping care for Song’s elderly mother, Grace. Song was described as helping their daughters get ready for school while also dealing with his mother’s medical appointments.

It is a stage of life millions of families understand very well, even if Ling and Song’s careers are anything but ordinary.

Lisa Ling and Paul Song Have Talked Honestly About Marriage

Lisa and Paul have not tried to present their relationship as completely effortless.

They have acknowledged that marriage can become difficult when careers, parenthood and personal pressures pile up.

That openness became particularly noticeable when they discussed a period in their relationship when Song felt stuck personally and emotionally. He later participated in a guided ayahuasca retreat and publicly described the experience as meaningful to him.

Ling has said the experience helped open a path toward healing in their marriage while also making the point that their relationship, like anybody else’s, is not perfect.

Their willingness to acknowledge difficult periods makes the relationship feel a little less like a polished celebrity profile.

They have been together for roughly 20 years. Over that time they have gone through demanding jobs, fertility struggles, raising children, caring for aging parents and major career transitions.

A marriage lasting that long naturally changes.

The interesting part is that both seem to have continued changing with it.

Lisa Ling and Paul Song Today

Lisa Ling and Paul Song remain married and continue raising their daughters in Southern California. Recent biographies still identify Song as Ling’s husband and place the family together in Santa Monica.

Professionally, both have reached stages in their careers that would have been difficult to predict when they first met in 2006.

Ling became one of America’s best-known immersive journalists, moving through major television networks while developing documentary projects centered on people whose lives are often misunderstood or overlooked.

Song began as a doctor treating cancer patients and moved steadily into biotechnology leadership. In 2026, he remains at the helm of NKGen Biotech while staying connected to the medical and research world.

At home, their roles seem considerably less formal.

They are parents trying to manage school, sports and family obligations while looking after older relatives and keeping two ambitious careers moving.

That may be the most useful answer to the question of who Lisa Ling’s husband really is.

Paul Song is a doctor, scientist and biotech executive, but those titles only explain one part of him. He is also the man Ling met through friends in 2006, the person who gathered both families together before proposing, the father practicing basketball with their daughters and the husband she has publicly thanked for doing the laundry, cooking meals and quietly handling the everyday jobs that keep a family moving.

Nearly 20 years after their wedding, Lisa Ling and Paul Song have built a relationship that exists well beyond either person’s public career.