Paul Brehm received his degree in zoology from the University of Wisconsin before entering the PhD program at UCLA where he trained with James Morin in marine biology and bioluminescence. Postgraduate training with Roger Eckert at UCLA and Yoshi Kidokoro at The Salk Institute focused on calcium channels and synaptic transmission. The next 10 years were spent as an associate professor in the Department of Physiology at Tufts Medical School in Boston and summers at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole. In 1990 Brehm moved to Stony Brook University in New York where he served as professor of Neurobiology and Behavior before assuming a position as senior scientist at the Vollum in 2007.

Dr. Brehm's lab is currently focused on several projects involving ion channels and synaptic transmission in vertebrate animal models.