Melanie Keen is to step down as director of the Wellcome Collection in London this spring after seven years at its helm.
Having joined the organisation in 2019, just five months before it was forced to close in the first Covid lockdown, Keen’s influence has been seen through her focus on health equity, inclusion and the relationship between art, culture, scientific research and lived experience.
During her tenure, the museum – which is part of medical research foundation the Wellcome Trust – has run major exhibitions and events including the 2024 exhibition The Cult of Beauty in 2024 and Thirst in 2025.
Keen is also credited with shaping the Wellcome’s approach to presenting Henry Wellcome’s collections, growing community partnerships and building new collaborations and partnerships across the sector.
“It has been an absolute privilege to serve as the director of Wellcome Collection and to work with such talented colleagues and collaborators whom I admire and respect,” Keen said in a statement.
“The reason I joined Wellcome was its commitment to equity and inclusion, and I leave an organisation that has a growing and more inclusive audience, and a cadre of diverse artists represented across many aspects of the programme.
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“With a brilliant forward plan and talented Wellcome Collection team in place, the organisation is well placed to build on this work into its next decade of excellence and evolution.”
Sam Owen, currently the associate director strategy and governance at the Wellcome, will act as interim director after Keen leaves in the spring.
The museum said he would provide “continuity while Wellcome Collection considers its next phase of leadership”.
Keen was director and chief curator at the Institute of International Visual Arts before she joined Wellcome.
She is an advisor at the Government Art Collection and sits on the board of visitors of Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford and the board of trustees of Raven Row gallery in London.
