Provider Biography
Dr. Neilan developed a love for science as a child while spending time in his grandfather’s chemistry lab and chilly office basement at Purdue University. In school, he developed an affinity for Biology (but not for Algebra) and decided to pursue a career in Medicine. Ryan attended the University of Texas at Austin, graduating with a degree in Human Biology with Honors in just three years. While there, he worked at the Institute of Cellular and Molecular Biology, performing research on the dysregulation of tumor suppressor genes in cancer cells. He attended the University of Texas Medical Branch, where he was the Valedictorian of his medical school with Highest Honors. Dr. Neilan completed his residency in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He received a William P. Potsic Award from the American Society of Pediatric Otolaryngology for his work in developing a novel animal model to study airway defects. He is also an author in many other scientific publications, including the New England Journal of Medicine. Ryan attained an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management (his family who attended Purdue has mostly forgiven him). Dr. Neilan also has a graduate certification from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and the Sloan School of Management.
Dr. Neilan is the Chairman of the Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Division at Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Medical Center. He is a member of the Houston Methodist Physicians’ Alliance for Quality, a Diplomate of the American Board of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He is one of the few surgeons distinguished as a Fellow of the American Rhinologic Society in the greater Houston area. He has served on the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery’s “Rhinology and Paranasal Sinus Committee.” Administratively Dr. Neilan sits on the Senior Physicians Board and is the Director of Finance. He has been honored as a Vitals “Top 10 Doctor” and received both the “Patients’ Choice Award” and the “Compassionate Doctor Recognition.” His peers have repeatedly selected Ryan as a “Texas Super Doctors, Rising Star.”
Clinically he sees the breadth of general Otorhinolaryngology, with an interest in Rhinology/Allergy/Sinonasal Surgery and Pediatric Otolaryngology. Dr. Neilan utilizes advanced and minimally invasive techniques such as endoscopic septoplasty, revision sinus surgery, image-guided surgical navigation, as well as in-office balloon sinuplasty in The Woodlands. He is the Director of Interventional Endocrinology and is the first Head & Neck Surgeon in Texas to offer in-office Radiofrequency Ablation treatment for thyroid nodules.
He has a young daughter who absolutely does not wish to follow in his medical footsteps but does love Mathematics. Dr. Neilan enjoys golf (especially in Ireland), nonfiction books, cooking at home, his Rhodesian Ridgeback, Chicago sports, and lifelong learning.
#NeilanNoseBest
Dr. Neilan sees patients at The Woodlands Pinecroft.
