Ryan Mokhtari earned his Ph.D. in neuroscience from the State University of New York (SUNY) Upstate Medical University, studying molecular genetics of autism spectrum disorder, using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). He had previously received his M.D. from Iran and worked in the field of psychiatry for a few years in Australia. Mokhtari also received a research fellowship from Einstein College of Medicine in New York, where he worked on epigenetic mechanisms of neurodevelopmental disorders. He also collaborated with the Bipolar and Schizophrenia Network for Intermediate Phenotypes (B-SNIP) research group and studied genetics of neuroimaging phenotypes in psychotic disorders. Mokhtari teaches undergraduate courses on behavioral neuroscience, behavioral genetics, neuroscience journal club, and evolutionary psychology.