Advocating for a Supportive Environment for LGBTQ Clients in Health Care and Long Term Care

Murray is a senior staff attorney in Whitman-Walker Legal Services focusing on the legal needs of LGBT elders and those living with HIV/AIDS. He has been a practicing attorney since 2004.

Murray joined Whitman-Walker Legal Services in 2013 after leaving the firm of Karp, Wigodsky, Norwind & Gold, where he served as a senior associate in civil litigation. Before private practice, Murray clerked for the Honorable No?l A. Kramer on the DC Superior Court and the Honorable Vanessa Ruiz on the DC Court of Appeals. Prior to becoming an attorney, he worked at Community Connections with chronically mentally ill adults, many of whom were living with HIV.

Murray graduated with honors from George Washington University Law School in 2003. He received my bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College and master’s degree in social work from the University of Maryland.

Sadiya Abjani is the Manager of Training and Online Learning as well as a queer Muslim activist.

She received her Bachelors in Islamic Studies and English from the University of Texas at Austin, where she spent time learning curriculum development and gaining expertise in training development and delivery.

Previously, Sadiya worked as the Corporate Training Coordinator at the Equal Rights Center, where she delivered trainings on Fair Housing, Disability Rights, and Sensitivity and Diversity. She has done extensive work within the elder community, including developing and executing a large project surveying the South Asian elder community to isolate signs of depression. Sadiya has just under 10 years of public speaking experience, and has presented in front of crowds as small as 3 people and as large as 4,000. Sadiya prides herself on delivering information in a fun and interactive way, and consistently receives high scores from participants in internal and external evaluations and feedback forms.

Gary L. Stein, JD, MSW, is an Associate Professor at the Wurzweiler School of Social Work – Yeshiva University, where has taught social policy, health care practice, palliative care, and health care ethics in the master’s and doctoral program since 2006. His interests include bioethics, palliative and end-of-life care, health care policy and practice, social policy, disability, elder care, and LGBT issues.

Dr. Stein has been Vice Chair of the Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network since 2006. He was awarded a Fulbright Specialist Program Award in 2010 at the Lancaster University, U.K. International Observatory for End of Life Care. He was a consultant on disability and health care planning for the RAND Corporation.

Dr. Stein was formerly the Executive Director of New Jersey Health Decisions, where was responsible for developing projects to improve end-of-life care, promote more informed medical decision-making, and foster citizen involvement in healthcare and bioethics issues. He has been principal investigator of major end-of-life, palliative, and HIV care initiatives funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, the State of New Jersey, the Soros Foundation, the United Hospital Fund, and the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey. Dr. Stein is a recipient of the Project on Death in America’s Social Work Leadership Development Award and the 2011 Rose Dobrof Award (for his publication on LGBT elders and long-term care).

Prior to his appointment with New Jersey Health Decisions, Dr. Stein was Project Director of the HIV Professional Development Project and the Palliative Care Leadership Development Program at the New York Academy of Medicine. He also taught at the Seton Hall University School of Graduate Medical Education, the Kean University Department of Social Work, and Drew University Theological School.

Dr. Stein received a Certificate in Bioethics and the Medical Humanities from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University/Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1998. He received his J.D. (cum laude) from New York Law School; M.S.W. (clinical practice) from the Rutgers University School of Social Work; and A.B. (psychology) from Rutgers College.