Dr. Riley is is board certified in internal medicine and graduated from the University of Utah medical school in 1983. He has been a clinical associate professor at the University of Utah medical school, the University of New Mexico medical school and the University of Maryland medical school, as well as a contributing writer or editor to a variety of medical textbooks. Dr. Riley has been an editor of three different peer-reviewed and indexed medical journals since 1995 and is currently a senior editor with The Permanente Journal from Kaiser-Permanente.

He has been involved with research since 1992 and health research reporting guidelines since 1998; first with CONSORT, health research reporting guidelines for randomized controlled trials and then with CARE, health research reporting guidelines for case reports. He co-led the development of the CARE guidelines from 2011-2013, which have been endorsed by multiple scientific journals and translated into multiple languages.