In an unusual joint political action, the governor and governor-elect are expected to name Dr. Martin P. Wasserman, the Prince George's County health officer, as the new state health secretary on Monday.
Dr. Wasserman, a physician and lawyer, has been a leader in the fight against smoking. He will be the first major appointment for Gov.-elect Parris N. Glendening.
Mr. Glendening and a spokesman for Gov. William Donald Schaefer declined to comment, but sources confirmed the appointment yesterday. Mr. Glendening and Mr. Schaefer, both Democrats, are scheduled to appear at a news conference in Annapolis Monday about the new health secretary.
Mr. Schaefer is expected to take the unusual step of appointing Dr. Wasserman before Mr. Glendening takes office next month. Mr. Schaefer was barred from seeking a third term and supported Mr. Glendening in the November election.
"I've long since learned that there is only one governor. Any appointment he might announce has to come from him," Mr. Glendening, the former Prince George's County executive, said yesterday when asked about Dr. Wasserman.
Dr. Wasserman, 52, did not return phone calls. He would replace Nelson J. Sabatini, who left last week to become a vice president of the University of Maryland Medical System.
Dr. Wasserman is the "convenor" or chairman of the Coalition for a Smoke Free Maryland, an umbrella group that supports smoke-free workplaces and public places.
During the 1994 legislative session, the coalition lobbied for higher tobacco taxes and legislation limiting the placement of cigarette vending machines to areas where children do not gather.
Eric Gally, a spokesman for the American Cancer Society's Maryland Division, praised Dr. Wasserman for his efforts to fight smoking. "He has been a tremendous advocate," he said. "He's a real leader."
Dr. Wasserman was director of the Montgomery County Health Department before becoming Prince George's health officer. He also has been president of the state association of local health officers.
In 1984, he was elected to the first permanent board of directors of the National Capital Area Health Care Coalition. At the time, he was director of the Arlington County, Va., Department of Human Resources, which was responsible for health and social service programs.
He graduated from Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., the Johns Hopkins University Medical School and the University of Maryland Law School.
In the 1970s, he was chief pediatrician at the Gallup Indian Center in New Mexico, before heading back East. He took jobs with the National Health Service Corps and later at Mount Washington Pediatric Hospital, where he was president and medical director.
I= He developed a reputation as an authority on child abuse.