Ryan received his B.S. in Human Biology from Minnesota State University, Mankato in 2009. In 2014 he was awarded a Ph.D. in Cellular and Integrative Physiology from the University of Nebraska Medical Center. His graduate work, funded by an American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship, focused on potassium transport via BK channels in the distal nephron of the kidney under conditions of high potassium intake and the role of aldosterone. Ryan joined the Ellison lab in 2015 and was awarded an F32 Postdoctoral Fellowship from the NIDDK. Ryan was promoted to Instructor of Medicine in 2020 and is currently funded by a K01 Career Development Award from the NIDDK.

His current work focuses on the cullin 3 mutant that causes Familial Hyperkalemic Hypertension and the role of the COP9 Signalosome.