Terence Ryan, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology and Co-Director, Center for Exercise Science
College of Health and Human Performance
Terence Ryan is focused on understanding the molecular pathways that regulate muscle and vascular responses to environmental and internal stressors, as cellular life is rooted in the cell’s ability to establish and maintain energy charge. A significant focus of his lab is the role of cellular and mitochondrial energetics in cellular function.
Ryan earned his doctorate in kinesiology and exercise science from the University of Georgia and joined the University of Florida after completing postdoctoral training in mitochondrial biology at the East Carolina Diabetes and Obesity Institute within the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. He is now the principal investigator for the college’s Molecular Metabolism Lab in the Center for Exercise Science.
Throughout his academic and research training, Ryan has acquired a wealth of laboratory techniques and experimental models to study mitochondrial and cellular biology in cells, as well as pre-clinical research models and clinical studies in human patients.
To date, he has published 95 peer-reviewed papers in highly respected journals in the fields of physiology and medicine, including Circulation Research, Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle. Over the past five years, he has published 48 peer-reviewed papers and his lab has been supported by more than $10.2 million in extramural grants. He currently serves as the principal investigator of active grants from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Institute on Aging, as well as the American Heart Association and the Florida Department of Health.
Ryan has also served as the primary mentor for six postdoctoral scholars, five Ph.D. students and four master’s students. Eight of his trainees have successfully secured extramural funding through NIH and American Heart Association fellowships.
He is a member of the American Heart Association, the American Physiological Society, the American College of Sports Medicine and the Southeast Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine. In 2021, he was awarded the Cardiovascular Section New Investigator award by the American Physiological Society.
“Terence is one of the most successful and impressive faculty in our program,” said David E. Vaillancourt, chair of the Department of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology.