Dr. Adrian Ryan was born in Anchorage and raised in Unalakleet, where some of his family still lives. He graduated from Seattle Pacific University with a B.S. in Chemistry and then attended University of Washington Medical School. He completed an internship in family medicine at Swedish Hospital in Seattle. His general surgery internship and orthopedic residency were completed at the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland.

Dr. Ryan may be the only Alaska Native orthopedic surgeon in the world. He was a representative for the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, an international organization representing Inuit people of the Arctic from Alaska, Canada, and Greenland, from 1998 to 2004. He was also a representative for the Indigenous Peoples’ of the North, to the Arctic Council.