Ben Mueller
Community Outreach for the U of I National Center for Rural Health Professions
Northern Illinois Area Health Center

Ben Mueller is the Director of Community Outreach for the University of Illinois National Center for Rural Health Professions (NCRHP), Director of the Northern Illinois Area Health Center (AHEC) and Extension Specialist, Community Development, for the University of Illinois Extension. Ben served as Co-Chair for the Community and Economic Development Extension Educator team. He has written curricula and taught short courses and workshops on conflict resolution, interdisciplinary rural health professions, community networks, organizational leadership, and other topics related to community leadership development and rural health for the Peace Corps Fellows Programs at Illinois State University and Western Illinois University, the Rural Medical Education Program of the School of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Rockford, the Illinois Department of Public Health, Center for Rural Health and for numerous state and national organizations.

His current research interests focus on Hispanic immigrants in Midwestern communities with an NIH supported action research project that addresses health disparities among rural populations including Latinos residing in Illinois communities. He is the creator and director of Nuevos Horizontes (New Horizons), recipient of the University of Illinois Extension Innovative Program award for its excellence in content development and delivery of Spanish language outreach educational programming via radio.