Ray Suarez joined The NewsHour in October 1999 as a Washington-based Senior Correspondent.

Suarez has more than thirty years of varied experience in the news business. He came to The NewsHour from National Public Radio where he had been host of the nationwide, call-in news program "Talk of the Nation" since 1993. Prior to that, he spent seven years covering local, national, and international stories for the NBC-owned station, WMAQ-TV in Chicago.

In 2006 Rayo/HarperCollins published his examination of the tightening relationship between religion and politics in America, "The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America." Suarez also wrote "The Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration" (Free Press), and has contributed to several other books, including "How I Learned English" (National Geographic, 2007), "Brooklyn: A State of Mind" (Workman, 2001), "Local Heroes" (Norton, 2000), "Saving America's Treasures" (National Geographic, 2000), and "Las Christmas" (Knopf, 1998). His writing has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, and many other publications.

Earlier in his career, Suarez was a Los Angeles correspondent for CNN, a producer for the ABC Radio Network in New York, a reporter for CBS Radio in Rome, and a reporter for various American and British news services in London. Over the years he has narrated, anchored or reported many documentaries for public radio and television including a weekly series, Follow the Money (1997, PBS), and programs including Yesterday (2006, WETA) Who Speaks for Islam? (LinkTV, 2005) By The People (PBS, 2004-07), The Journey Home (2004, WETA) The Execution Tapes (2001, Public Radio) and Through Our Own Eyes (2000, KQED).

He is the host and narrator of the upcoming documentary, Jerusalem: Center of the World (Oregon Public Broadcasting), and is the narrator for National Geographic TV's series, Animal Genius. He is also the host of the monthly foreign affairs program America Abroad, heard on Public Radio International stations nationwide, and around the world in NPR Worldwide.

Suarez was a co-recipient of NPR's 1993-94 and 1994-95 duPont-Columbia Silver Baton Awards for on-site coverage of the first all-race elections in South Africa and the first 100 days of the 104th Congress, respectively. He was honored with the 1996 Ruben Salazar Award from the National Council of La Raza, and the 2005 Distinguished Policy Leadership Award from UCLA's School of Public Policy. The Holy Vote won a 2007 Latino Book Award for Best Religion Book.

Suarez holds a B.A. in African History from New York University and an M.A. in the Social Sciences from the University of Chicago. He has been awarded honorary doctorates by many colleges and universities, most recently by Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania. He is a winner of the Benton Fellowship in Broadcast Journalism at the University of Chicago. He has also been honored with a Distinguished Alumnus Award from NYU, and a Professional Achievement Award from the University of Chicago.

A life member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Suarez was a founding member of the Chicago Association of Hispanic Journalists. A native of Brooklyn, New York, he lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and three children.