Dr. Ryan is Managing Director Golden Seeds (Silicon Valley), an angel investing group focused on women-led companies.She is also a member of Astia Angel, a group of active and experienced angel investors dedicated to Astia Angel’s mission of investing in women-led ventures while targeting above-market investment returns. She was most recently President and CEO of Diagnostics For All (DFA), a non-profit organization developing inexpensive diagnostics for global health and agriculture. She was also formerly President and CEO of AVANT Immunotherapeutics, Inc, (NASDAQ) a company developing vaccines and immunotherapeutics for cancer, travelers, food safety, and global health. Dr. Ryan is also Research Professor of Medicine at BU School of Medicine. Her board positions include AMRI (Lead Director, Nominating and Compensation committees) and MSH (Audit and Compensation committees). She is a Board member of RenovoRx, a company developing an innovative device to enhance treatment options for pancreatic cancer patients. She is also on the board of Bioarray Therapeutics, a company developing a diagnostic to determine the best treatment for breast cancer. She was Chair of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, served on its Board (1996-2008), as well as the Biotechnology Industry Organization, New England Healthcare Institute, Board of Associates of the Whitehead Institute, Strategy & Policy Council of the MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation, Massachusetts Life Sciences Collaborative Leadership Council and the Goddard Council on science, technology, engineering and mathematics education. Dr. Ryan holds a Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from Cambridge University and BS degrees in Zoology, Microbiology and Chemistry from Bristol University.She received an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from Bristol University in 2009. In 2007, Dr. Ryan received the Albert Einstein Award for outstanding achievement in the life sciences. In 2002 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II awarded Dr. Ryan the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to biotechnology.
