Christine Chapel

Christine Chapel was a supporting character originally introduced in Star Trek. She would appear both on original series and Kelvin timeline films, as well as Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. 
Chapel was originally portrayed by the late , who also portrayed various Federation computers, Una Chin-Riley (aka Number One), Lwxana Troi, and Lady Morella on Babylon 5. For the 2022 series Strange New Worlds, she was portrayed by . 
She had mixed Swedish and Cherokee roots. She had relationships with both men and women. Chapel described the relationship she had with a woman on Argelius II as one that ended with her being chased by phaser fire. She also had a fling with a Lieutenant Dever of the starship USS Skylark. While Dever wanted to discuss if they should take their relationship past the casual stage Chapel ultimately broke it off with him as she considered him to be boring. 
As a civilian nurse on exchange from the Stanford Morehouse Epigenetic Project, Chapel was posted to the USS Enterprise under the command of Captain Christopher Pike, and reported to Doctor Jabilo M'Benga. During her initial posting she helped develop genetic re-sequencing techniques that would allow Enterprise crew members to be convincingly disguised as aliens.
Chapel later took advanced biological research training under the tuetalage of Doctor Roger Korby. Falling in love with Korby, the two were engaged by 2261. When Dr. Korby disappeared in 2261 she abandoned her training in research and resumed her Starfleet career in hopes of being assigned to a deep space mission, which would increase the chances of finding him. In 2266 she was back on the Enterprise when the ship apparently found Korby. It was then that they realized the individual they found was an android duplicate, and the man she loved was long dead. 
After learning that Korby was dead, Chapel decided to remain on the Enterprise. Taking her medical duties seriously she did not hesitate to stand up to Doctor Leonard McCoy if she felt he was wrong. By 2269 she had been promoted to Lieutenant and was the head nurse on the Enterprise. 
Upon the Enterprise returning to spacedock in 2271 for an 18 month refit, Chapel completed medical school and became an MD. As the refit neared completion she was posted back to the Enterprise. When Doctor McCoy returned to service, he grumbled that he wanted a top nurse instead of another doctor who would argue every diagnosis with him. Despite that, the two worked well together and remained good friends.
After watching Doctor M'Benga slap Mr. Spock to help him exit a Vulcan healing trance, Chapel studied Vulcan medicine further and invented medication that allowed for healthcare professionals to help rouse Vulcan patients from healing trances without needing to resort to physical assault. 
Even though she had gotten over her earlier crush on Mr. Spock, she was deeply affected by his apparent death. Following Spock's funeral she returned with Carol Marcus to the Regula I space station to help identify the individuals murdered by Khan Singh and held Marcus as she grieved the deaths of her lover and close friends. 
After the destruction of the Enterprise Chapel took a position at Starfleet Command and helped coordinate relief efforts when the Whale Probe's transmissions damaged Earth's environment. She attended the trial of then Admiral James T. Kirk and her Enterprise shipmates and was quite happy to see almost all the charges dismissed (except the one against Kirk).
By 2290 Chapel was working as Starfleet Medical's liaison to Ambassador Sarek. In that year she accompanied the Ambassador to the Korvat Colony on the USS Excelsior, and was delighted to see her old friend Hikaru Sulu once again. When Doctor Klass was seriously injured by the Klingon pirate Qagh, Chapel became the temporary Chief Medical Officer of the Excelsior. After Starfleet promoted Sulu to Captain of the Excelsior, he asked her to stay on as permanent CMO after the retirement of Doctor Klass, an offer that she accepted. She was CMO of the Excelsior at least through 2298.
Chapel died sometime between 2298 and the mid 24th century. When Captain Montgomery Scott was rescued from the USS Jenolan in the late 2360s, he looked up her service record and learned that by then she was "long gone."
==Alternate Reality==
In the Kelvin timeline created by the Romulan miner Nero's interference in the timeline, Nurse Chapel was serving on the USS Enterprise in 2256. Doctor McCoy called for her to help him when James T. Kirk had a bad reaction to a vaccine he provided to Kirk. She may had also been involved in helping treat Captain Christopher Pike following his rescue from Nero.
By 2259 Kirk's reputation as an irresponsible ladies man led Chapel to transfer off the Enterprise. This version of Chapel was friends with the alternate reality Carol Marcus, and warned her about Kirk when Marcus transferred to the Enterprise. 
==Gallery==
DoctorChapel.png|Doctor Chapel
==Trivia==
*A medical officer with a 1960s beehive hairstyle was briefly seen in the Enterprise transporter room in the 2009 film Star Trek. While that might have been Christine Chapel, it was never confirmed one way or the other. This individual was portrayed by an unidentified actress. 
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