The President today announced his intention to nominate William E. Mayer to be an Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs). He would succeed John Howard Moxley III.
Dr. Mayer is presently serving as Administrator for the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration in Rockville, Md. Previously, he was medical director of the San Diego County Department of Health Services in 1980-1981; Chief of the U.S. Army Alcoholism Treatment Facility, Germany, in 1977-1980; associate clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California in 1975-1977; chief deputy director of health and director, California State Department of Health, in 1973-1975; chief deputy director of mental hygiene and director, California State Department of Mental Hygiene, in 1971-1973; and director of community (county) mental health programs in Contra Costa, Humboldt, and Del Norte Counties, Calif., in 1965-1971.
He graduated from Northwestern University (B.S., 1943) and the University of Washington (B.M., 1946; M.D., 1947). He is married, has four children, and resides in Bethesda, Md. He was born September 24, 1923, in Chicago, Ill.
Ronald Reagan, Nomination of William E. Mayer To Be an Assistant Secretary of Defense Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/261751