Physician Profile: Drs. Barbara and Marty Wasserman
Helping the Community Get Healthy and Humane
 Drs. Barbara and Marty Wasserman express their concerns for human health and their compassion for animals through work in their local community, as well as support for PCRM.
As a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Dr. Barbara Wasserman plays a crucial role in PCRM’s campaign to end the school’s live pig laboratories. Determined to help medical students get the experience they need without harming animals, Dr. Wasserman has written letters to the editor and attended a public outreach effort outside the school.
Trained in internal medicine, Dr. Wasserman spent most of her career practicing occupational medicine. She directed the occupational medicine program at the National Institutes of Health as well as a similar program at the National Naval Medical Center. Dr. Wasserman currently serves as the chairwoman for the Howard County Nutrition and Physical Activity Coalition in Maryland and is particularly interested in helping children stay healthy by intervening with parents to create positive lifestyle changes. In 2007, Dr. Wasserman joined the board of directors of The Cancer Project, PCRM’s subsidiary devoted to cancer prevention and survival.
Dr. Martin Wasserman, a pediatrician and lawyer, served as state health secretary for Maryland and Oregon and as the executive director of the Maryland State Medical Society. He has helped PCRM with special projects.
When the Wassermans discovered PCRM through a mailing, Barbara, who had a strong interest in vegetarian diets, ordered PCRM’s Vegetarian Starter Kit. And when PCRM president Neal Barnard, M.D., gave a talk on addictive foods in Baltimore four years ago, the Wassermans eagerly attended. “I credit my attendance at this talk to my decision to go vegetarian and work with PCRM,” Barbara said. “I felt that I could play a useful role by letting people know how they can avoid disease.”
The Wassermans share their home with four cats, two dogs, and four horses.
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