Steven Clay is academically trained as an Egyptologist. In 1992, he graduated as a Classics major, Arabic minor at Howard University, Phi Beta Kappa which led to a Fulbright Fellowship in Cairo. His time there fueled his passion for the University of Chicago’s PhD program in Egyptology. There he focused on the Coptic Era. He was drawn to Egypt’s earliest known primary source material from everyday lives, and its writing about the existential fight for basic social justice and autonomy under harsh Roman rule.

Steven’s family’s commitment to social justice can be documented at least four generations back. Like those Mississippians who came before him, he knew he was born into an imperfect world and that he must work to improve it for those who follow. After graduating from high school, rather than entering college immediately, he spent his adolescence and early adulthood as the youngest board member of the National Council of Churches and the United Methodist Church’s General Board of Global Ministries, speaking nationally to empower others to act.

His love of Mosaic’s mission and activities is steeped in these early values he still cherishes.

Professionally, he has spent the last 20 years helping patients and families to navigate our byzantine health care system, finding care solutions regardless of payor source, and advocating for the best clinical outcomes for patients exiting hospital settings. He considers his work to be a day-to-day reflection of his commitment to fundamental human rights.

His past board experience includes the National Council of Churches, the General Board of Global Ministries, and Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League. Other civic engagements include Ujamaa in Chicago, and most recently as the current chair of the DC Ward 5’s Crime Prevention and Reduction Committee.

He resides in Cottage City, MD with his husband Mike Smith, co-founder of the AIDS Memorial Quilt and long-time HIV/AIDS and LGBT rights activist. They share a passion for art and boundary-pushing performance art.