Ryan is the Canada Research Chair in the Perinatal Programming of Mental Disorders, the Albert Einstein/Irving Zucker Chair of Neuroscience, an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, and Director of the MD/PhD Program at McMaster University. He is interested in how intrauterine and perinatal environmental conditions affect brain development in ways that increase the risk of psychopathology across the lifespan. His most recent work has focused on developing and testing interventions aimed at optimizing maternal and offspring mental health. Clinically, he is a psychiatrist that works with women struggling with mental health problems during pregnancy and the early postpartum period.