Carol R. Ray, Ph.D.

Dr. Carol Ray has a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Interdepartmental Nutrition. A Master of Science degree from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University in Food and Nutrition. She is a 1983 graduate from Spelman College with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry. Dr. Ray grew up her younger years in Salisbury, Maryland, and she grew up her formative years in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Her career spans over several fields. From teaching Anatomy, Biology, Physiology, at the college level, to working as Project Coordinator at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore within the Department of Physical Therapy. Additionally, she has worked in research, as a Senior Research Program Coordinator, at the Johns Hopkins Center on Aging and Health in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Ray has also worked as an Executive Director of an agency that focused on the dis-aggregation of data for minority groups. There she educated Congressional and Senatorial staff regarding the importance of funding for minority groups in order to improve health issues.

Dr. Ray has the distinguished honor of being named among Marquis’ Who’s Who in America; Marquis’ Who’s Who of American Women; Marquis Who’s Who in the World and finally Marquis’ Who’s Who on the Web between 2006 - 2008. Most recently (May 2019), Dr. Ray was awarded the Bradley D. Ambrose Advocacy Award by the National Alliance on Mental Illness – Northern Virginia Affiliate. She also was inducted into Phi Upsilon Omicron National Honor Society while working on her Ph.D. at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Carol is a former member of the Princess Anne Chapter of the Links, Inc. and a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta, Inc.

Dr. Ray has been a blog contributor to renowned, mental health speaker, Hakeem Rahim’s weekly blog. Dr. Ray has contributed to several publications that has focused on mental health. Including her book entitled, “Ph.D.’s Have Bipolar Too: My Story.” She wrote her book, as a result of briefly coming into contact with the criminal justice system, as a result of not having access to her medicine and subsequently falling into a mental crisis, which occurred in the summer of 2011. She is also the author of, “Poems Inspired by Mother” and “A Celebration of Life”, which was inspired by the sudden onset of her mother’s illness and subsequently given two days to live due to cancer. Yet, by the Grace of God, her mother lived 2 and a half months. Yet, through it all, she never gave up on Jesus Christ.

Currently, Dr. Ray is a Behavior Therapist at a behavior health company in Northern Virginia. For the past two years, she served on the Board of Directors, for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, in Prince William County, Virginia. Dr. Ray desires to tell her story in order to address the problem of the criminalization of the mentally ill. She has been certified, as an In Our Own Voice Speaker, through the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Dr. Ray currently speaks at Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) trainings for law enforcement in Northern Virginia, in addition to social and civic organizations, church congregations and mental health patients. She desires to broaden the audiences that she speaks to. Dr. Ray is an advocate for those who have mental health conditions, as Dr. Ray herself has bipolar disorder.