Ryan, who received his MD/PhD from Harvard Medical School, studied neuroscience at UCLA as an undergraduate. His thesis work, conducted in the lab of Dr. Susan Dymecki, studied the role of serotonergic raphe neurons in maintaining and restoring homeostasis after environmental stressors in early life. He is the recipient of many awards, including the Neuroscience Scholars Award from the Society for Neuroscience, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Gilliam Fellowship.