Maryland Department of Health


The Maryland Department of Health is an agency of the government of Maryland responsible for public health issues. The Department is headed by a Secretary who is a member of the Executive Council/Cabinet of the Governor of Maryland, currently the secretary is Robert R. Neall. Previous secretaries have included Joshua Sharfstein, and Georges C. Benjamin.

History

The Department was formed in 1969 as the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and was known by this name until June 30, 2017. Though the department itself was formed in 1969, some of its origins go back to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.