Dr. Ryan's research focuses on a large cohort of adults with Type I
diabetes to determine how the development of certain biomedical complications of diabetes (e.g., distal symmetric poly-neuropathy;
atherosclerosis) disrupt cognitive functioning.
He is experimentally inducing hypoglycemia in groups of adolescents and adults, with and without diabetes, measuring transient changes in cognitive functioning and in regional cerebral blood flow, and correlating those changes with changes in release of counter-regulatory hormones, in an effort to determine why some diabetic individuals show dramatic cognitive changes when hypoglycemic, while others show essentially no change.
He is also conducting a large-scale HIV risk reduction study with members of the Gay community. These interventions were selected in
part, because of the widespread belief that substance use increases the risk of unsafe sexual practices. Subjects are randomized into
either sex risk reduction or controlled substance use intervention groups and are followed over a 1 year period. The primary outcome
measure is change in risky sexual behavior and substance use, as indicated by completion of daily sex/drug diaries.
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Dr. Ryan's areas of research interest include effects of various medical disorders (e.g., diabetes, hypertension) and medical therapies (e.g., cholesterol-lowering medications; brain surgery for epilepsy) on cognitive functioning in both children and adults.
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Dr. Ryan received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.
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Dr. Ryan assists with the selection of neuropsychological tests, provides training in test administration, and helps faculty and students score, code, statistically analyze, and interpret results from their neuropsychological assessment and assists with the design and implementation of studies on individuals with HIV/AIDS.
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