[1] Chapman graduated from the University of Otago medical school in 1921.
She later gained an MD in 1934 and the Dublin Diploma in Gynaecology and Obstetrics.
From 1936 to 1946 she was Medical Superintendent of St Helens Hospital in Wellington.
In 1936 Chapman served on the committee of inquiry into abortion which produced the MacMillan Report (1937).
She was appointed resident obstetrician at Dulwich Hospital in London in 1948.