Dr. Jason Ryan is a Board Certified Cardiologist and the Director of the University of Connecticut Heart Failure Center who is very well known amongst medical students for his educational platform that helps prepare for the USMLE STEP1 board exam called Boards and Beyond. Dr. Ryan earned his MD and MPH from the University of Connecticut in 2001 and completed postdoctoral training and a cardiology fellowship at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Dr. Ryan has been a clinical educator for several decades now at UConn Health, and he started Boards and Beyond as a widely accessible resource for medical students in 2014. Subsequently, Boards and Beyond has generated video recorded lectures that can be purchased by subscription to assist with STEP1 prep - this is a resource myself and virtually all of my friends in medical school used in our prep for the STEP1 exam. Outside of B&B, Dr. Ryan recently released his first book entitled “The Gunner,” which is a satire of some of the hilarities and difficulties of medical school training.
In our conversation, Dr. Ryan and I discuss what Boards and Beyond is, how he prefers to teach (including tips on why he believes students find his style of teaching to be effective) details on his recent book The Gunner, and other hot and debatable topics in medical education. This was an extremely enjoyable conversation for me, as I have been listening to Dr. Ryan’s lectures for hours and hours in preparation for Step1. Definitely a meet your hero (and all my friends’ hero) moment. Further, getting to discuss Dr. Ryan’s book and his recent sale of Boards and Beyond was extremely interesting. Without further ado, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Dr. Jason Ryan.
Useful Links:
Dr. Ryan’s Instagram and X (twitter) handle: @jasonryanmd
