Kate Quinn, Mütter Museum’s controversial director, has been removed

Kate Quinn, the Mütter Museum’s often-embattled executive director, is no longer working at the city’s iconic medical history institution.

A memo to staff sent out late Monday afternoon stated that the position of the Museum and Historical Medical Library’s executive director had been eliminated and that Monday was Quinn’s last day. She joined Mütter in September 2022.

“We thank Kate for her contribution to the College and wish her the best in her future endeavors,” stated the memo signed by Larry H. Kaiser, who was recently named president and CEO of the College of Physicians, the Mütter’s parent organization.

Kevin Feeley, a spokesperson for the college and Mütter, said the college does not comment on personnel matters but confirmed Monday was Quinn’s final day.

“We appreciate her dedicated service to the college during a difficult period,” Feeley said.

Quinn could not be reached for comment.

Quinn, along with former college president Mira Irons, who departed in September 2023, initiated an ongoing review of the Mütter’s policies regarding the handling and display of human remains, a highly sensitive issue at many museums. Under Quinn, that has included the Pew-funded project Postmortem: Mütter Museum, which hosted town-hall meetings to get public input. The final audit of that process is due later this year.

But since Quinn assumed leadership, supporters of the museum, including staff members — some of whom have since resigned — have said that the new policies and changes were harming a unique and valuable institution.

The new leaders said they intended to move the museum toward a future with an emphasis on health and wellness, rather than death. One initiative was a public health-focused exhibit on homelessness. Another, "Postmortem: Redefining Respect, Reinterpreting Remains‚" looked, in part, at unethical practices of acquiring human remains without the individuals’ consent. Many of the museum’s anatomical specimens were collected in the 19th century and, in some cases, were stolen or grave-robbed.

However, other Mütter proponents said many of the changes, including removing publicly available videos and other materials, reduced educational opportunities. People who had planned to donate parts of their bodies to the museum said they were being rebuffed by the new leadership. At Postmortem town halls, some people with rare conditions and disabilities testified that the Mütter was one place where they felt they were included and represented.

Members of the staff have also filed internal complaints alleging negative, demeaning treatment by Quinn, according to documents obtained by The Inquirer. Longtime curator Anna Dhody resigned last year, saying she felt that her work was no longer welcome at the institution.

Under Quinn’s tenure, some popular if quirky fundraising events like the Halloween-themed Mischief at the Mütter had been canceled as the museum moved away from its “disturbingly informative” brand.

Moving forward, the Mütter might bring back popular revenue-generating events that Quinn had scuttled, according to staff sources. The forthcoming Marie Curie’s Radiant Ball, the museum’s spring celebration, will take place April 25 as planned.

As word of Quinn’s departure reached members of the Mütter community, people said they were not certain what it will mean for the future of the institution but expressed their desire for change.

“Hopefully, the restructuring of the college administration indicates the start of a new era for the institution and, especially, for the Mütter Museum,” said Marianne Hamel, a college fellow who has served as chair of the advisory Wood Institute, Library and Museum Committee and has been critical of Quinn’s leadership.

A spokesperson for Protect the Mütter, a group that has been fighting to preserve some of the most-loved aspects of the museum, hoped Quinn’s departure was a sign of a new leadership direction.

“We are still learning all the details, but we hope this signals a shift away from Quinn’s harmful practices and back to the Mütter we love, one that prioritizes education and knowledge,” the spokesperson said.

Barbara Kotzin, an East Cheltenham woman who had arranged to leave her skeleton to the Mütter for educational purposes but saw those plans put in limbo under Quinn’s tenure, is also hoping for change.

“I am not sure what [Quinn’s leaving] means for the future of the museum, but I am cautiously optimistic that this will bring the long-hoped-for return to the Mütter that we all knew and loved,” Kotzin said. “As a donor, I am hoping this will mean that the plans that I had put in place years ago will now be honored.”