Wang Tao, born around the third year of the Tang Dynasty's Zongzhang era (670), and died in the fourteenth year of the Tianbao era (755), was a native of (modern-day Shaanxi County). His great-grandfather, Wang Gui, served as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Taizong. His grandfather was Chongji, and his father was Maoshi. Wang Tao was the second son, with an elder brother named Guangda, who was a Langzhong in the Ministry of Merit. Wang Tao had two sons: the elder, Sui, who once served as the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple, and the younger, Gou, who was once the Governor of Suzhou.

Wang Tao was sickly in his childhood but developed a keen interest in medicine as he grew older. His mother suffered from a prolonged illness, and he felt that without understanding medicine, one could not be a filial son. Thus, he resolved to study medicine. In the early 8th century, he served at the Hongwen Guan (the national library of the Tang Dynasty) for over twenty years. During this period, he extensively read thousands of volumes of ancient medical literature. He meticulously excerpted and recorded the contents of every book he read, accumulating a vast amount of information. During the Tianbao era (742-755), he was demoted to Fangling (now part of Hubei) for some reason and later served as the governor of Daning. At that time, a local epidemic broke out, and Wang applied the classical formulas he had recorded, personally administering the remedies, which saved many lives. This experience inspired him to compile a comprehensive medical formulary. In the eleventh year of Tianbao (752), he completed Waitai Miyao , a forty-volume work that has been passed down through the ages. Another of his works, Mingtai Yaolue , a ten-volume simplified version of Waitai Miyao , unfortunately, has been lost and no longer exists.