Monique Marie Ryan (born 20 January 1967) is an Australian paediatric neurologist and politician. She is currently the member of parliament for the federal seat of Kooyong after defeating Josh Frydenberg at the 2022 Australian federal election.
Early life
Ryan was born in Melbourne on 20 January 1967. She has a twin sister and is one of seven children born to Maurice and Marguerite Ryan. Her father was a telecommunications executive and her mother was a charity worker who served as CEO of the Christian Brothers Foundation and founded Women for Women in Africa, a charity supporting the Kibera slum in Kenya.
Ryan grew up in the suburbs of Caulfield North, Toorak and Hawthorn. She attended Loreto Mandeville Hall, Toorak, graduating as dux in 1984.
Medical career
Ryan graduated in medicine at the University of Melbourne in 1991. Ryan then completed her pediatric training in Sydney, Australia and a neurology residency at the Children's Hospital Boston, in Boston, Massachusetts. Ryan also completed a neurophysiology fellowship at the Lahey Clinic in Boston, Massachusetts.
Prior to becoming a Member of Parliament, Ryan was the Director of the Neurology at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne. Ryan has over 150 peer-reviewed publications and has been a principal investigator on a number of clinical trials. She is joint editor of Neuromuscular Disorders of Infancy, Childhood, and Adolescence, now in its second edition.
Publications
Ryan's publications have over 10,000 citations, and she has an H index of 50, which is a measure of the impact of her research.
Select publications include the following:
Nemaline myopathy: a clinical study of 143 cases (2001) MM Ryan, C Schnell, CD Strickland, LK Shield, G Morgan, ST Iannaccone, et al. Annals of Neurology: Official Journal of the American Neurological. 50:3. 312–320. Clinical course correlates poorly with muscle pathology in nemaline myopathy (2003) MM Ryan, B Ilkovski, CD Strickland, C Schnell, D Sanoudou, C Midgett, ... Neurology 60 (4), 665–673. Guillain–Barré syndrome in childhood (2005) MM Ryan. Journal of paediatrics and child health 41 (5–6), 237–241. Mobile arm supports in Duchenne muscular dystrophy: a pilot study of user experience and outcomes (2021) A Cruz, L Callaway, M Randall, M Ryan. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology 16 (8), 880–889. McDonald CM, Henricson EK, Abresch RT, Duong T, Joyce NC, Hu F, Clemens PR, Hoffman EP, Cnaan A, Gordish-Dressman H; CINRG Investigators. Long-term effects of glucocorticoids on function, quality of life, and survival in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy: a prospective cohort study. Lancet. 2017 Nov 22. pii: S0140–6736(17)32160–8. Finkel RS, Mercuri E, Darras BT, Connolly AM, Kuntz NL, Kirschner J, Chiriboga CA, Saito K, Servais L, Tizzano E, Topaloglu H, Tulinius M, Montes J, Glanzman AM, Bishop K, Zhong ZJ, Gheuens S, Bennett CF, Schneider E, Farwell W, De Vivo DC; ENDEAR Study Group. Nusinersen versus Sham Control in Infantile-Onset Spinal Muscular Atrophy. N Engl J Med. 2017;377: 1723–1732.
Political career
Ryan was announced as the independent candidate to run in the 2022 federal election in the seat of Kooyong. Her candidacy came about after she responded to an advertisement in The Age calling for an independent to unseat Josh Frydenberg, after he had previously received an 8% swing against him in the previous election. Ryan was one of a number of centrist "teal independents" who campaigned to unseat "moderate" Liberal Party MPs on the basis of a lack of action on climate change, amongst other policies Her campaign was backed by Voices of Kooyong and was reported to have 1500 volunteers and more than 2000 donors, as of April 2022.
Ryan won Kooyong at the 2022 election, receiving 52.9% of the two-candidate vote, subsequently defeating federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg. Ryan stated she "was still getting used" to the idea of becoming a federal member of parliament and that her result indicates "there is a momentum for change in the Australian political system". Ryan indicated her first priority would be action on climate change.
Controversies
After winning the seat of Kooyong at the 2022 election, Ryan hired Sally Rugg as chief of staff. Disagreements emerged regarding Rugg's work hours and responsibilities. Further incidents later arose which Rugg alleged amounted to hostile conduct in the workplace.
In January 2023 Rugg resigned as chief of staff and a court application was lodged alleging a breach of FWA general protections. Rugg claimed to have been forced to work excessive hours. Ryan publicly disagreed with this claim.