Thomas Dent Mütter 1811–1859
Born Richmond, Virginia
Widely recognized as a pioneer in the field of plastic surgery, Dr. Thomas D. Mütter specialized in operations to correct congenital deformities, including cleft lip, cleft palate, and clubfoot. Mütter earned his medical degree at the age of twenty from the University of Pennsylvania. After additional study abroad, he returned to Philadelphia and launched a career that combined university-level teaching with an active surgical practice. From 1841 to 1856, he chaired the surgery department at Jefferson Medical College (now Thomas Jefferson University), where his donation of a large collection of medical specimens became the nucleus of the popular Mütter Museum.