In Memoriam: Dena Ryan, May 16, 1977 – April 4, 2024
By Lynn McCain | April 12
It is with profound sadness that we write about the unexpected passing of Dena Ryan, a member of our Pathology Informatics team who managed MediaLab for the Department of Pathology. Dena was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and attended Lowell High School in Lowell, Michigan. Upon graduation, she obtained a bachelor’s degree in biology from Michigan Technological University in 1999, followed by a second bachelor’s degree in clinical laboratory sciences from Eastern Michigan University, before finding her way to Michigan Medicine’s Department of Pathology as a medical laboratory scientist. She later transitioned to Pathology Informatics to support the MediaLab application as a business analyst.
Eric Jedynak, Administrative Director of Pathology Informatics, commented, “Dena was an extremely valuable member of our team, navigating complicated projects, application configurations, and all things document control as our MediaLab administrator. She was a wonderful teammate who had an excellent sense of humor, worked hard, and cared deeply about improving our processes to make things better for patients and their families.”
“To me she was funny, kind-hearted, incredibly calm in a world of chaos and nonsense, and someone you could say anything to without judgment,” added Andrea Arlen. “She will be extremely missed by everyone who knew her. She was one of the good ones, irreplaceable. Like many others who knew her, my heart is broken by her passing.”
Dena is survived by her husband, William P. Ryan, III, and her children William P. Ryan IV (Liam), age 13, and Hannah M. Ryan, age 11; her parents Mel and Linda Beers and many other family members. A mealtrain has been set up to help the family through this time of grief, if you wish to provide support: https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/wlqdle/updates/y27omy.
A celebration of life will be held on May 19, 2024, at Farmington Hills Manor. Further details are pending and will be made available on her obituary site.
The family requests that donations be made to Project H.O.P.E (U of M Migraine Research Project) in lieu of flowers.
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