301 W. Preston Street, Baltimore I Telephone: 837-9000

The policies of the Department of Mental Hygiene and the Depart-
ment of Health are governed by the newly-created State Board of
Health and Mental Hygiene which has broad and inclusive powers
over both health and mental hygiene. This Board, established by
Chapter 841, Acts of 1961, is composed of eleven members appointed
by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate for six-
year terms. Five of the members must be physicians, of whom two
are psychiatrists. Of the remaining members, one must be a dentist
and each must be qualified in one of the following fields: hospital ad-
ministration, public administration, nursing, pharmacy, radiation
control, and sanitary engineering. No Board member may serve more
than two full terms. The Board elects its own officers biennially.
Under the terms of the reorganization Act, the new Board replaces
the State Board of Health, the Mental Hygiene Advisory Board, and
the Mental Hygiene Board of Review (Code 1957, Art. 43, sec. IA-
IG).

STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

Perry F. Prather, M.D„ Commissioner
Edward F. Davens, M.D„ Deputy Commissioner
Clemens W. Gaines, Chief, Bureau of Management
John Whitridge, Jr., M.D., Chief, Bureau of Preventive

Medicine

C. A. Perry, Sc.D., Chief, Bureau of Laboratories
Leon H. Hetherington, M.D„ Chief, Bureau of Tuberculosis
Robert M. Brown, M.P.H., Chief, Bureau of Environmental

V. L. Ellicot, M.D., Dr. P.H., Chief, Bureau of Medical
Services and Hospitals

301 W. Preston Street, Baltimore I Telephone: 837-9000

The State Department of Health, established by Chapter 200, Acts
of 1874, is governed by the newly-created State Board of Health and
Mental Hygiene. The Department is directed by a Commissioner, who
is appointed by the Governor upon the recommendation of the State
Board of Health and Mental Hygiene. He must be an experienced
physician skilled in public health and certified by the American Board
of Preventive Medicine. He is responsible for organizing the Depart-
ment and carrying out its responsibilities and functions. The Depart-
ment serves the State through the Baltimore City Health Depart-
ment, and twenty-three county health departments, each of which is
in the charge of a health officer who serves as the Deputy State Health
Officer for his county,

The State Department of Health protects the public health through
the elimination of environmental hazards, the promotion of individual
preventive health supervision (especially in expectant mothers, in-
fants, preschool children and school children), and by the active con-
trol of communicable diseases; through the administration of a hospi-
tal program for the tuberculous and the chronically ill, a medical care
and a hospital inpatient and outpatient program for the indigent and
the medically indigent, and a medical and hospital care program for
crippled children; and through assistance to local health departments
and cooperation with State and Federal agencies, with the medical,
dental and other health professions, with private health associations,
and with citizens groups in carrying out a wide variety of public
health programs (Code 1957, Arts. 27, 30, 43, 77 and 101).