Meet the Team

Michael Beachler

Director Southern Rural Access Program/Rural Health Policy Center mbeachler@psu.edu

As Director of the Rural Health Policy Center of the Penn State University College of Medicine, Beachler serves as the program director for the Southern Rural Access Program, a regional effort to improve access to basic healthcare in eight of the most underserved rural states in the country. Previously, Beachler served as a senior program officer for The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, where he was responsible for developing and overseeing several national grant programs. He also co-chaired the Grantmakers in Health Task Force on Maternal and Child Health and served as convenor of the RWJF substance abuse goal group. Earlier in his career, Beachler served as assistant deputy commissioner for the Maine Department of Human Services. Beachler received his Masters of Public Health from the University of Pittsburgh in 1979.