Ellen Blokus began working in the Rural Medical Education Program in April of 1999. At that time, she assisted M3 students, was involved with a HRSA grant, which was a collaboration of several entities including Illinois State University, U of I Extension, rural county public health departments and the University of Illinois, and CDC grant through the State of Illinois focusing on diabetes management in rural practices. She maintains her position in the Center for Rural Health Professions, and is involved in database management, continuing her work with the diabetes grant, serving as the editor of the Northern Illinois Diabetes Coalition quarterly newsletter and assisting with seeking future grant funding.

Dale Flach served formerly as the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs at the Rockford campus of the University of Illinois. He has been involved with the RMED program since its conception in the late 1980’s. He served as interim RMED Director on three separate occasions. Currently, Dale is the Assistant Director for Rural Health Policy for the Center for Rural Health Professions. His interests include public policy and economic development of rural communities.

Michael Glasser, Ph.D., is Assistant Dean for Rural Health Professions and Research Associate Professor of Medical Sociology in the Department of Family and Community Medicine. He is co-director of the Masters of Public Health Program at the Rockford campus and Principal Investigator for the Project EXPORT Center for Excellence in Rural Health. Dr. Glasser's research and scholarly activity interests include patient-provider relationships, primary care delivery and health professions education, diagnosis and management of chronic disease, and mental health and older populations.

Cindy Harper, provides administrative support for the Center, to include: database entry, employee reimbursement voucher preparation, supply inventory management, and logistical coordination for the RMED class meetings and site visits.

Matthew Hunsaker, M.D. is director of the Rural Medical Education Program (RMED) at the National Center for Rural Health Professions at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford. He is board certified in Family Medicine with special training in additional areas of Hyperbaric and Aerospace Medicine. Dr. Hunsaker’s professional interests include rural and remote medicine, the doctor-patient interaction, international medicine and the delivery of care to special populations despite cultural barriers.

Martin MacDowell, DrPH is Assistant Director for Curriculum Development and a Research Assoc. Professor in the Rural Health Professions Center at UIC College of Medicine – Rockford. He participates in the curriculum development, evaluation, and teaching of medical students in the rural physician (RMED) training program. He also participates in the development of interdisciplinary courses, presentations, and curriculum related to all rural health professions. He participates and/or teaches courses in the MPH program. He scholarly interests focus on program evaluation, health services research, and epidemiologic research. He advises and guides project activities of medical and other health professions students and develop relationships with professionals in the health care provider community related to opportunities for students and other Center project activities.

Mark Meurer, MS, Assistant Director of Recruitment, Public Relations and Marketing for the Rural Medical Education Program (RMED) and the National Center for Rural Health Professions. Mark is responsible for RMED student recruitment at numerous colleges and universities as well as creating public relations and marketing activities for the National Center and RMED Program.

Rhonda Meyer-Boeke, MBA, CSBO is the business manger for the Center. In addition to managing the Center's finances, Rhonda chairs the Operations Group meetings, and manages the Center's administrative and operational activities.

Karen Peters, DrPH, is Assistant Director for Research and Evaluation in the Center for Rural Health Professions and Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Administration in the UIC School of Public Health. She is a co-investigator and program evaluator on several Rural Health Professions initiatives and programs. Dr. Peter's research and scholarly activity interests include minority health and health disparities, community based prevention intervention and evaluation, population-based health, organizational behavior theory, evidence based public health decision-making and gerontology.

Pat Stoffregen provides assistance for the RMED office and NCRHP. In particular, collect data of RMED graduates, i.e., residency location, practice location and follow-up on RMED and other graduates. Maintain contact with RMED graduates. Serve as resource person for RMED data.

Joella Warner, RN, MAT, CDE has a background in nursing and teaching, focusing on diabetes prevention and care. She is a diabetes educator for professionals and consumers. She is the project coordinator for the Comprehensive Diabetes Project which assessed the care of people with diabetes in rural Illinois, provided intervention to 6 clinics and continues to work with primary providers to improve diabetes prevention and care. Areas of interest include chronic disease self-management and health professions education.

Howard J. Zeitz, M.D. is Co-director of the National Center for Rural Helath Professsions and Associate Professor at the University of Illinois College of Medicine-Rockford (UICOM-R). In Addition, he is Co-chair of the Chronic Disease Management Research Team at UICOM-R, Immediate Past Chair of the Illinois Asthma Partnership and Chair of the Rockford Asthma Consortium. Dr. Zeitz has specialized training in education, with a focus on models of meaningful learning such as problem based learning, project based learning, and interdisciplinary/interprofessional learning.