Isaac Ray (1807 - 1881) was an American psychiatrist who is generally regarded a founder of the field of Forensic Psychiatry. A native of Beverly, Massachusetts, and a graduate of Phillips Academy (class of 1822), Ray received his medical degree in 1827 from the Medical College of Maine (Bowdoin College).

His influential 1838 text "Treatise on the Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity" was referenced extensively in court proceedings and was deployed effectively by defense attorney Sir Alexander Cockburn in the English trial of Daniel M’Naghten in 1843. At the trial, Cockburn quoted extensively from the book which rejected traditional views of the insanity defense based on the defendant's ability to distinguish "right from wrong" in favor of a broader approach based on causation.

Dr. Ray published extensively on issues of insanity and its legal implications. He also published several important monographs, including Mental Hygiene (Boston, 1863) and Contributions to Mental Pathology (Boston, 1873). Dr. Ray was a longstanding member and President of the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane which in 1868 published its "Project of a Law" that recommended statutory enactment to secure the rights of the mentally ill and define the civil and criminal relationships of the insane.

In 1951, the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law established the annual Isaac Ray Award, which recognizes an outstanding contribution to forensic mental health or psychiatric jurisprudence. The first winner of the award was Winfred Overholser, MD for his advocacy work in the area of involuntary confinement of mentally ill criminal offenders.