Holding considerable expertise in emotional and spiritual support, mental health, trauma and crisis, the Rev. Dr. Patricia Ann Moody Ray has excelled as a mental health chaplain at the Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage since 2010. In this role, she provides support for patients, families and friends in the emergency room, surgery department, mental health unit and more. She is also involved in psychological evaluations, facilitates meetings for teenagers and adults at the Crisis Recovery Center and conducts flag ceremonies for the families of organ donors. Notably, she is one of the few chaplains who provide telehealth services. Prior to entering the field of health care, the Rev. Dr. Ray spent more than 35 years as a services representative for Chugach Electric Association Inc.
The Rev. Dr. Ray began her professional journey at the University of Alaska, where she earned an Associate of Arts and a Bachelor of Arts in sociology, which she followed with a second Associate of Arts and a Bible certificate from Alaska Bible College and a Bachelor of Theology from the American Baptist College in Tennessee. From there, she completed a Master of Arts in organizational leadership at Azusa Pacific University and concluded her studies with a Doctor of Philosophy in biblical communication at the Atlantic Coast College of the Bible and Theological Seminary. The Rev. Dr. Ray is a board-certified chaplain through the Association of Professional Chaplains, a licensed and ordained minister with the Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church and holds a master-level certificate from the International Conference of Police Chaplains.
Alongside her primary responsibilities, the Rev. Dr. Ray has contributed her skills to a number of other professional endeavors. She spent 15 years volunteering as both a prison chaplain and a chaplain in her local police department and currently ministers to young boys at the McLaughlin Youth Center in Anchorage. For her excellence, she was presented with the Chaplaincy and Specialized Ministry Award by the American Baptist Home Mission Societies, which went on to name her National Chaplain of the Year in 2022. Providence Alaska Medical Center has also recognized her as Employee of the Month. Looking toward the future, the Rev. Dr. Ray hopes to establish her own life coaching business, Jewel of Life Coaching.