Keith J. Mueller, PhD, is the director of the Rural Policy Research Institute, the director of RUPRI’s Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis, and the chair of RUPRI’s Health Policy Panel. At The University of Iowa, he is the head of the Department of Health Management and Policy and is a Gerhard Hartman professor in the College of Public Health.

Mueller has served as president of the National Rural Health Association (NRHA) and as a member of the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services. He has also served on national advisory committees to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. 

Mueller has published more than 220 scholarly articles and policy papers, and received awards recognizing his research contributions from NRHA, RUPRI, and the University of Nebraska. In 2016, he received the University of Iowa Regents Award for Faculty Excellence. 

Mueller earned a doctorate in Political Science from The University of Arizona, and he completed a faculty fellowship with The Johns Hopkins University.