From left: Dr. Tom Quinn and Dr. Zack Quinn.
Generations of doctors run in many families, but how many families can say that they have two doctors working at the same hospital? At Chester County Hospital (CCH), Tom Quinn, MD, is one of the longest-tenured staff members, and his son, Zack Quinn, MD, is one of the newest.
Both Drs. Quinn are originally from Chester County, but their paths didn’t lead them straight to CCH. In the early 2000s, Tom, a radiologist, was working at the former Medical College of Pennsylvania Hospital and at Hahnemann Hospital, both in Philadelphia, but found that splitting his time between the two locations was wearing him down. A former colleague and chair of the department of Radiology at CCH invited Tom to interview at the hospital, and he’s been there ever since.
As for Zack, “I don’t think I always knew I wanted to be a doctor,” he notes. “It was more just seeing that that’s what [my father] did and finding medicine to be interesting. The path seemed to lead there on its own.”
Zack, a hematologist and medical oncologist, graduated from Drexel University’s College of Medicine and did his residency training at Tulane Medical Center in New Orleans, where he was named chief resident his last year. In 2019, he returned home for a three-year fellowship at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, and last summer, he decided to apply for a position on the oncology team at CCH.
“Family was a big reason why I came back to Chester County,” says Zack. “My wife and I have two little kids, so being close to my family is very helpful.”
When Tom found out his son was coming to CCH, he was thrilled. “I’m really lucky that his decisions led him here,” Tom says.
Although working under the same roof doesn’t mean working side-by-side, they enjoy being able to share their expertise with each other when the opportunity arises. “I often order procedures that are done by [my father],” says Zack. “Once or twice it’s been a Dr. Quinn–to–Dr. Quinn handoff!”