Ray Blackwell honored with Raising Kings award for community service and mentorship

Ray Blackwell, M.D., chief of Cardiac Surgery at Christiana Care’s Center for Heart & Vascular Health and W. Samuel Carpenter III Distinguished Chair of Cardiovascular Surgery, was awarded the Raising Kings Black History in the Making Contemporary Award at One Village Alliance’s Raising Kings Awards reception, Jan. 15, at the Mitchell Center for African-American Heritage in Wilmington.

The award recognized Dr. Blackwell’s success, commitment to community service and mentorship of students.

The Raising Kings Awards honor leaders who are living the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. In his acceptance speech, Dr. Blackwell remarked, ”As successful as I’ve been, I’m only going to be successful if I’ve changed the life of one young person in the world. I’m working every day to make that happen.”

Dr. Blackwell leads a team of highly skilled, experienced heart surgeons who perform more than 700 heart surgeries each year at Christiana Care. He also is a clinical assistant professor of surgery at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University.

Since joining Christiana Care in 1996, Dr. Blackwell has been recognized among the top cardiac physicians in our region and has helped guide the cardiac surgery program to deliver greater quality and value.