Ryan studied Chemistry & Biochemistry at Whitman College, a small liberal arts college in Washington State, graduating in 2000. He did his PhD research at UCSD with Palmer Taylor 2001-2006, and his postdoctoral research with Eric Gouaux at the Vollum institute from 2007-2012. He started his independent lab in 2012 in the Departments of Neuroscience and Biophysics at UT Southwestern Medical School. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2019. In 2023 he moved his research lab to UC San Diego. He maintains an adjunct appointment in Neuroscience at UT Southwestern. Awards and honors include Klingenstein and McKnight Scholar awards, the UC San Diego Outstanding Alumnus Award, the Alton Ochsner Award Relating Smoking and Disease, and the Norman Hackerman Award in Chemical Research.