Rick completed his undergraduate work in biochemistry at Vassar College and received his Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology from Cornell University, where he did his thesis research in the laboratory of Efraim Racker. After a postdoctoral fellowship in Paul Greengard's laboratory at Yale University School of Medicine, Rick joined the faculty of Rockefeller University, where he was an Assistant Professor of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience. He is currently Professor and Director of the Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience and Professor of Biological Chemistry at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Co-Director of the Johns Hopkins Brain Science Institute.