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Keith Mueller, Ph.D. |
The position is the second-highest post in the college ranking only behind the dean.
“Keith has an outstanding breadth of knowledge and experience in public health,” said Jay Noren, M.D., dean of the College of Public Health. “I’m pleased that he has enthusiastically accepted this new challenge. It’s an exciting opportunity for him and he will play a critical role as we move forward in building the college.”
Dr. Mueller has been a UNMC faculty member since 1990, serving as professor and head of the section on health services research and rural health policy in the department of preventive and societal medicine. In addition, he serves as director of the Nebraska Center for Rural Health Research as well as the Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis. He also serves as an adviser on UNMC’s teams dealing with state and federal legisltation.
The UNMC Department of Preventive and Societal Medicine is one of the departments that is now part of the College of Public Health.
A key national figure in developing rural health policy, Dr. Mueller served as president of the National Rural Health Association in 1996-97 and currently serves on the NRHA’s Quality Steering Committee. For the past four years, he has been a member of the Research Council for RUPRI. From 2000-04, he was a member of the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services, to the Secretary of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
In addition to his rural health expertise, Dr. Mueller also is well versed in national health policy. Since 2004, he has been a member of the Advisory Panel on Medicare Education for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
As associate dean for academic affairs, Dr. Mueller will be responsible for faculty recruitment and for building the new doctoral programs in the college. He also will be formulating new policies and procedures as the college develops. The college hopes to recruit 20 new faculty over the next four years. He will continue to perform his existing duties in the Department of Preventive and Societal Medicine.
“I’m a person who really likes to do things that make a difference,” Dr. Mueller said. “Most of my time in the past has been spent trying to make a difference on the national front with rural health issues. Now, with the creation of the College of Public Health, I have a chance to make a difference in the health of people throughout Nebraska and the region. That’s what’s exciting about this opportunity and what appeals to me personally.”
Dr. Mueller earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and his doctorate in political science from the University of Arizona. From 1987-88, he received the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Fellowship in Health Care Finance, working at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions as well as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
After completing his doctorate in 1979, Dr. Mueller joined the faculty of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as an assistant professor of political science. He was named associate professor in 1985 and professor in 1991. He continued on the faculty at UNL until 1997 and served on both the UNL and UNMC faculty from 1990 to 1997.
He has published more than 55 articles in health services research and policy. His RUPRI publications include commentaries on rural implications of major policy chances including the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003.
Dr. Mueller has directed major health services studies funded by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He has testified on numerous occasions before committees of Congress and in other forums, including the Institute of Medicine and the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.
Dr. Mueller has received funding for more than 50 grants during his career and currently has funding for three research grants, the largest being a $527,093 grant for four years through the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy.
Dr. Mueller was the first person to receive the Distinguished Rural Policy Research Award from RUPRI in 2002. He also earned the Distinguished Researcher Award (1998) and the Volunteer of the Year Award (1999) from the NRHA as well as the Outstanding Achievement Award from the UNMC College of Medicine in 1996. In 2006, Dr. Mueller was named a Distinguished Scientist at UNMC.