Dr. Nicklya M. Harris-Ray manages more than lower pathology ailments as a Podiatric Physician. Dr. Harris-Ray’s commitment to providing quality health services, education, and civic service stems from the desire to make a difference.

Dr. Harris-Ray began her career interning for several federal government agencies. While there, Dr. Harris-Ray gained knowledge in human health issues which plague the country. Dr. Harris-Ray chose to further her knowledge of health in a more specialized fashion and gained her masters and doctorate.

Today, Dr. Harris-Ray leverages over 15 years of experience to provide an expert’s point-of-view when it comes to lower extremity care. Dr. Harris-Ray’s success includes the overseeing of hundreds of patients, diabetic treatments, and a medical mission trips to Jamaica, where she served hundreds more as an Attending Physician.

Born in Jackson, MS, raised in various locations as a military child, Dr. Harris-Ray currently resides on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. As well as being a health provider, Dr. Harris-Ray has been in education for over eight years as a college professor of Allied Health.

 

What inspired her to start the foundation was the disheartening perception of how other states perceive Mississippi. Also witnessing what some state residents think of themselves inspired her to know that something quickly must be done regarding pride, education, and future planning.

 

A personal experience that really “awakened” her to the need to address women’s issues is when she taught for a local career college. The first day she walked in, the students had no idea she was the professor and no idea that someone of her age at the time, gender, and race could actually be a practicing doctor. Also surprising to them at that time was the fact that she was unmarried and had no kids.

 

Many had mentally and /or physically abusive boyfriends, but stayed in relationships because of financial reasons. They saw education as a possible way out. Others were single parents, and saw education as a means to break the disheartening cycles of the past. Quite a few had no money, and lived off the student loans given to them for staying in school.  Still lastly, many of them had returned to school post Hurricane Katrina because many on the coast worked in the gaming, tourism, and food industries and their jobs had blown away.  Dr. Harris-Ray feels "...a program addressing these issues of insecurity, past habits, perceived possibilities, and nutritional expectations will help us to understand these disparities, and begin the journey to correcting them."

Dr. Harris-Ray is a published scientific author, and a member of several civic, community, and masonic organizations, including the Knights of Peter Claver Ladies Auxiliary, Heroines of Jericho, Order of the Eastern Star, Golden Circle, and Karun Court No 89 DOI. In her spare time, the Cosmopolitan Magazine Top Ten Finalist (2005) enjoys traveling and party planning.