Ryan Sallans

Ryan Sallans, MA is an inspirational transgender speaker and author who specializes in inclusion, diversity, and healthcare. Over the past 20 years, Sallans has worked in the fields of eating disorder recovery, sexual orientation, and gender identity development. His work focuses on building inclusive environments and providing trauma-informed care for students, patients, employees and clients. His growing body of texts and teachings assist corporations, healthcare institutions, federal agencies, universities, and communities.

Sallans’s teachings are based on personal narrative storytelling that interweaves his past academics with present research and science. His work is designed to help audiences and individuals break down the barriers that gender presents us all.

After his appearance in the documentary Gender Rebel featured on MTV’s LOGO network in 2006, Sallans began traveling to universities where he shared the story of his transition from female to male and his recovery from an eating disorder.

Sallans has been interviewed twice on Larry King Live, Ricki: The New Ricki Lake Show, Trisha, NPR’s On Point with Tom Ashbrook, Cheddar TV and was honored to make a cameo in the web series, Brothers. He has also been interviewed by numerous newspapers and magazines including The Advocate, USNews, BuzzFeed, The Chicago Bureau, International Business Times, Baltimore Gay Life, and The Huffington Post.

From 2008 to 2020, Sallans served as the Lead Author and Subject Matter Expert for an extensive range of e-learning courses used around the nation to train healthcare professionals and staff seeking continuing education around serving the LGBTQ community. These courses are now part of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Healthcare Equality Index (HEI).

His academic publications include several personal narratives for peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Ethics (2023), Journal of Ethics (2020), Journal of Ethics (2016), Journal of Ethics in Mental Health (2015), and Contemporary Sexuality (2012).

Sallans’s first book "Second Son: Transitioning Toward My Destiny, Love and Life" details the life and transition of someone who would medically be categorized as a transgender man. "Second Son" has been noted as required reading in Mary Karr’s 2015 New York Times Bestselling book "The Art of Memoir."

His second book, "Transforming Manhood: A trans man’s quest to build bridges and knock down walls" explores life and identity post-transition in modern-day America where he is seen as a white man. His third book, "Finding Me: Finding We," will explore life beyond a transitional journey, by entering into Sallans’s soul-searching journey to finding self.

Sallans graduated with Sigma Tau Delta honors from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he received a Bachelor of Arts in cultural anthropology and English, a Master of Arts in English (specializing in creative writing), and a Master of Arts in Educational Psychology (specializing in human health behavior).