He was founding co-chair of the Canadian Rainbow Health Coalition.
In 2006, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, granted funding to a pan-Canadian team, SVR (Sexuality, Vulnerability and Resilience), of which he is co-chair, to study the impacts of homophobia on the health of gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans and two-spirit Canadians.
In 2011 he was named one of the Top Ten researchers in gender and health by the Gender and Health Institute of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
He is the fourth child of seven siblings.
Ryan is openly gay.
He lives with his partner in Montreal and has an adopted son.