Dr. Laura Herrera Scott, the deputy secretary for public health at the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, will step temporarily into the secretary's job once Dr. Joshua Sharfstein leaves office this month, according to an email Sharfstein sent to staff Wednesday morning.
Sharfstein had announced in July he would be leaving the post Dec. 31 for a position in the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.
"Dr. Herrera Scott is one of the top public health officials in the nation, respected both inside and outside the Health Department," Sharfstein said in a statement to The Sun.
Herrera Scott, who has been in her current position since December 2012, may not be in the top spot long at the health department. She was tapped as interim secretary by out-going Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat. And Gov.-elect Larry Hogan, a Republican who takes office in January, has said he intends to begin appointing cabinet members as early as next week.