
Ryan is a research fellow with Global Food System & Policy Research in the School of Global Health and Equitable Global Health research fellow at the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research. Ryan’s postdoctoral work focuses on systems thinking. They are applying a mixed-methods network analysis to global health research partnerships internationally and to food security monitoring within Provincial health authorities in British Columbia with the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC).
Ryan completed their PhD in Sociology at the University of British Columbia. They worked with and learned from Two-Spirit activists, food justice community leaders, food and critical sexualities scholars, and data scientists to analyze the causes and experiences of food insecurity among diversely situated queer communities in and across Canada. Ryan formerly worked as a research specialist with the Two-Spirit Dry Lab, a research collaborative of Indigenous and settler researchers that work to improve the health and wellbeing of Two-Spirit and other Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island. During their degree, Ryan has been a research assistant for different professors at UBC on variety of community-based projects in Vancouver related to food sovereignty, provisioning, and access. Prior to coming to Canada, Ryan worked as a research assistant at NORC at the University of Chicago on studies addressing LGBTQ+ health disparities on the South Side of Chicago and across the U.S. with the CDC and the Fenway Institute.
Ryan was awarded a 3-year Michael Smith Health Research BC Research Trainee fellowship to continue community-engaged research on Two-spirit, trans, and queer food security. They were featured in a reel filmed in the summer of 2025 spotlighting a queer food security initiative in Vancouver, CA produced by DoorDash: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/18mAquAyX3/
Themes | Planetary Health |
Status | Alum |
Related Work | |
Updates |
You may also be interested in...
Dahdaleh Institute researchers contribute to York's achievements towards the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals
In June 2020, York University launched its new University Academic Plan 2020-2025 (UAP), which included a university-wide challenge to elevate York’s contributions to the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The new UAP serves as ...Read more about this Post
Announcing the Winners of the 2025 Seed Grants in Critical Social Science Perspectives in Global Health Research
Following the sixth annual Critical Perspective for Global Health Research (CPGH) workshop in April, the CPGH Steering Committee is delighted to announce that the following York researchers have been awarded this year’s $7,000 seed grants ...Read more about this Post
Don't Miss Our November Lineup of Events
Join us for a November packed with insightful seminars, inspiring guests, and the launch of SWOT v2. Start off the month with a public seminar by visionary designer and Dahdaleh Institute community fellow Bruce Mau. ...Read more about this Post
