Shirley M. Mueller

Mueller worked as a medical alumni at the University of Iowa.[1] While at the University of Iowa, she carried out research in the area of cerebral blood flow and the blood brain barrier[4] and was later awarded research grants while on the faculty of Medicine at Indiana University.[5][6][7] Mueller left Indiana University as a tenured professor in 1985 to move into private practice. During this time, she took an interest Chinese porcelain and became a collector and scholar of Chinese export porcelain.[8][9][10] Using her background and her experience in neurology and psychiatry, Mueller researched the benefits that collecting can have psychologically and has published articles on the subject using her research.[11][12]

She used her research to write the book Inside the Head of a Collector: Neuropsychological Forces at Play[13] to help explain the behavior of collectors.[14][11][15] Additionally, she also lectures and exhibits her own Chinese porcelain collection[16] at different events.[17][18][19][20]