Ryan Bahar

Ryan Bahar is a fourth-year medical student at Yale School of Medicine and aspiring diagnostic radiologist and clinician-educator. Upon graduating, he will stay at Yale for a preliminary medicine year in 2024-2025 before pursuing residency in diagnostic radiology at the University of California San Francisco.

Ryan proudly descends from Michigan farmers on his mom's side and, on his father's, Iranians who fled to the United States after facing political persecution in the 1980's. He grew up in Georgetown, MA, where he graduated valedictorian and went on to study Neuroscience at Brown University. At Brown, Ryan conducted research on human sleep and mouse olfaction, volunteered as an EMT, and served in various community and university teaching and leadership roles while working full-time. He was the Department of Neuroscience prize recipient at his 2018 graduation. In between college and medical school, Ryan pursued a Fulbright Scholarship serving as a cultural ambassador and English teacher in rural Czech Republic.

At Yale, he has been heavily involved with radiology and medical education scholarship. Under the mentorship of Mariam Aboian, MD, PhD, he studied diverse applications of artificial intelligence in neuro-oncology, focusing on machine learning tools that can predict glioma tumor grade as well as volumetric tools for assessing treatment response in pediatric low-grade gliomas. His work has culminated in first-author publications in Cancers and Frontiers in Oncology, awards including the American Journal of Neuroradiology's Editor's Choice, and presentations at international conferences such as RSNA. Additionally, Ryan has engaged in projects aiming to uplift the role of the clinician-educator in academic medicine, namely a study of clinician-educator track-like programs in U.S. medical schools (mentored by Janet Hafler, EdD) and a study quantifying and evaluating faculty educational activities in neurology (under Jeremy Moeller, MD, MSc). His efforts have yielded first-author pieces in Medical Education Online and Neurology: Education. Most recently, guided by Thilan Wijesekera, MD, MHS, he completed his doctoral thesis entitled, "Radiology Education for U.S. Medical Students in 2024: A State-of-the-Art Analysis."

Outside of research, Ryan has held extensive leadership and teaching roles at Yale. During his final year, he produced and oversaw the annual medical school musical, "YSM: Yale School of Mystery." Earlier in medical school, he reestablished the Medical Education Interest Group, co-developed a Medical Education elective, and collaborated on the blueprint for the new Medical Education Concentration. He also enacted changes to class recording and attendance policies and developed a protocol for responding to national incidents of trauma as one of four Medical Student Council officers representing the entire student body in regular meetings with educational Deans. As Head Admissions Ambassador, he shaped the applicant interview day experience as well as post-acceptance recruitment through the Second Look Planning Committee. He co-led the Diagnostic Radiology Interest Group beginning his first year and served as a medical student liaison for the Radiological Society of Connecticut Resident and Fellow Section. He has engaged in near-peer teaching as a peer instructor for ultrasound workshops, session facilitator for the Introduction to the Profession course, and associate course director for the Clinical Reasoning course. He has also served the broader New Haven community co-leading the Anatomy Teaching Program for local high school students and volunteering as a patient navigator for a recently immigrated family.

In his spare time, he is an avid amateur long-distance runner (having finished the Newport Marathon and REVEL Mt. Charleston Marathon in 2023), downhill skier, and bell collector.