Dr. Timothy "Tim" Ryan arrived at Cedars Hospital as a cocky young neurosurgeon and was pursued by young Nurse Pam Chandler, a friend of Mike and Leslie Bauer and frequent babysitter to Leslie's young son, Freddie. Though they went on a few dates, when Nurse Rita Stapleton came to town, Tim found himself falling for Rita and started to ignore Pam. Tim and Rita actually became lovers. However, Rita was becoming friends with Pam, as well as becoming attracted to Dr. Ed Bauer. When Rita became aware of Pam's strong attraction to Tim, Rita called it off with Tim and suggested that he give Pam another chance.

However, Tim still would not leave Rita alone, even though she did her best to get him interested in Pam; going as far as setting them up on a date. Meanwhile, Rita's sister, Eve, came for a visit and Tim became attracted to her. Of course, the wild Tim continued to flirt with Rita, while also dating Eve. When Eve found out that Tim was interested in Rita, she blamed her sister for leading Tim on, until Rita was able to trick Tim into showing what a leach he could be in front of Eve. By August 1976, Eve got disgusted and left Springfield.
Eventually, Tim decided to start dating Pam again and they eventually became engaged. Tim and Pam had a huge wedding in the Fall of 1976 with all of their Springfield friends in attendance. Their wedding seemed to be what the town of Springfield needed during a time of many upheavals: the death of Pam's friend Leslie Bauer, Rita being harassed by Texan Malcolm Granger, and the recent breakup of Ed and Holly's marriage. Not long after Pam, and fellow nurse Peggy Thorpe responded to Malcolm Granger's call button to find him dead of a fatal heart attack, Tim and Pam moved to San Francisco.