34th Annual MLK Celebration Keynote
34th Annual MLK Celebration Keynote
Rev. Dr. Ray Hammond '75
Physician, Founding Pastor, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church
Reverend Ray Hammond is a physician and founding pastor of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Boston.
Hammond, a native of Philadelphia, is well known in the Boston area for his leadership and involvement in community and youth activities. He is chair and co-founder of the Ten Point Coalition, an ecumenical group of clergy and lay leaders working to prevent violence and mobilize the Greater Boston community on behalf of at-risk youth.
Hammond also serves as executive director of Bethel's Generation Excel program; as chair of the Boston Foundation; and as vice president for membership of the Boy Scouts Minuteman Council in Boston. He is an executive committee member of the Black Ministerial Alliance and serves as a trustee of Catholic Charities of Boston, of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and of the Yawkey Foundation, among other organizations.
Hammond received his BA from Harvard College. He was a graduate of the first cohort of the Joint Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, receiving his MD degree from Harvard Medical School. After completing his surgical residency at New England Deaconess Hospital in Boston, he joined the emergency medicine staff at Cape Cod Hospital.
He has written widely on topics including academic achievement, diversity and the ethics of reproductive technology, and has received numerous honors including honorary doctorates from Boston University, Lesley College and Northeastern University.
He devoted himself to the ministry in 1976 and received his MA in religion, concentrating on Christian and medical ethics, from Harvard University in 1982.
Hammond is married to Reverend Gloria White-Hammond, MD, a pediatrician, co-pastor of Bethel AME in Boston, and co-chair of the Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur. They have two daughters and live in Boston.
Keynote speaker Ray Hammond comments on the future of Dr. King’s message by asking the audience, “What now?” at the 34th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration held in Walker on Thursday morning. Photo: Mark Thompson, The Tech, 22 Feb 2008
MIT alumnus Rev. Dr. Ray Hammond, left, President Susan Hockfield and Dean for Undergraduate Education and Associate Dean and Director of the Office for Minority Education Karl Reid attend the 34th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration breakfast at Walker Memorial on Thursday, Feb. 21. Hammond gave the keynote address. Photo: Donna Coveney, MIT News 2008