Who Was Joan Chapple?

Dr. Joan Shirley CHAPPLE, CNZM, FRACS, MBChB [10.3.1934–22.5.2013], was New Zealand’s first formally trained female plastic surgeon, and Mr. William Manchester’s second trainee at the Plastic Surgical Unit, Middlemore Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand, in the early 1960s. After her training, Joan Chapple became a full-time plastic surgeon at Middlemore from 1963 to 1972, when personal circumstances were contributory to a radical change in her career path. This resulted in her taking up a new role as plastic surgeon in the Emergency Department of Auckland Hospital, and Lecturer at the adjacent Auckland School of Medicine. There, she eventually achieved a legendary and almost cult status, particularly among medical students, nurses, and general practitioners, for passionate espousal of her philosophies with respect to the treatment of hand and soft tissue injuries, which were considered very unorthodox by many of her surgical contemporaries. The question of whether her gender, iconoclastic views and medical politics of the day may have conspired to prevent her from reaching her full professional potential is an ongoing debate. Joan Chapple succumbed to cancer aged 79 years in 2013 and is survived by her daughter Raven Chapple and granddaughter Tilly Lamb.