Amey Chappell, MD

Amey Chappell, MD (1900-1986) was an obstetrician and gynecologist who paved the way for her successors in medicine through her perseverance and advocacy for women.

She was a graduate of Olgethorpe University and received her medical degree from Tulane University School of Medicine in 1930, going on to complete her internship in New Orleans at Touro Infirmary and her residency in Boston at the New England Hospital for Women and Children.

Dr. Chappell overcame financial struggles as well as gender-based prejudice to begin her practice in Atlanta, one of the first few women to do so in the area. She held a faculty position at Emory University Medical School as an instructor in obstetrics. In addition to Emory University, she had staff memberships at Crawford W. Long Memorial Hospital, Grady Memorial Hospital, and Good Samaritan Clinic. She belonged to medical societies of Fulton County and Georgia State, as well as the Southern Medical Association.

Dr. Chappell began her leadership in AMWA at the local level, serving as President of her local chapter and then nationally as Director of the South Atlantic Area, Chairman of the Publication Committee, and AMWA President from 1951 to 1952. She was awarded the Elizabeth Blackwell Medal by AMWA for her extensive service in 1967 and in 1968 was named Atlanta’s “woman of the year.”

Outside of medicine, Dr. Chappell was President of the Young Women’s Christian Association of Metropolitan Atlanta, a trustee of Piedmont College, and an active member of Chi Omega, Alpha Epsilon Iota, Le Conte Scientific, League for Women Voters, Active Voters, and the Congregational Church. She enjoyed gardening, collecting china cow pitchers and wooden dogs, and traveling.

Sources:

Gambrell, Elizabeth W.  “Amey Chappell, M.D.:  Thirty-fifth President of the American Medical Women’s Association”  JAMWA vol 6, No 9 p. 356.

Obituary (The Atlanta Constitution)