This article originally appeared on Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s website.
By Bill Snider
Judy Jean Chapman, MN, RN, professor emerita of nursing, who led the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing as interim dean in the early 1980s, died Sept. 8 in Nashville. She was 83.
Mrs. Chapman, whose late husband, John Chapman, MD, was dean of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) from 1975 to 2001, was an outstanding teacher who worked tirelessly to advance health care and the nursing profession on the local and national level.
“I am sorry to learn of Mrs. Chapman’s passing,” said Jeff Balser, MD, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Dean of VUSM. “In addition to her contributions to the School of Nursing, generations of medical students will recall her warmth and caring.
“Each year, she and Dean Chapman would graciously host the entire first-year class at their home for picnics and pool parties that became a legendary tradition for welcoming new students into VUSM,” Balser said. “She will be remembered for her kindness and steadfast support across many areas of Vanderbilt.”
“Judy Jean was a treasured faculty member loved by students and faculty,” added Linda Norman, DSN, Dean Emerita of the School of Nursing. “She was also proud of being a VUSN alumnus. We all looked forward to her attendance at school events.”
A native of Nashville, Judy Jean Cox earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from Vanderbilt University in 1963, winning the Founder’s Medal in Nursing that year for first honors in her class. In 1966, she received a Master of Nursing degree from the University of Florida.
During her college years, she worked as a staff nurse on the Vanderbilt hospital maternity ward before joining the Vanderbilt faculty as an instructor in Maternal-Child Nursing in 1966.
In 1968 she married Dr. Chapman, who had come to Vanderbilt from the University of Kansas a year earlier. In 1972, she was appointed associate professor of Maternal-Child Nursing with tenure in the School of Nursing. She served as the school’s interim dean in 1982-1983.
“As interim dean, Mrs. Chapman was instrumental in the faculty self-study that reshaped the school’s trajectory in the 1980s,” said School of Nursing Dean Pamela Jeffries, PhD. “VUSN’s focus on research, scholarship and graduate education stemmed from that study, leading to the school’s role as a leader in advanced practice education and education innovation.”
Throughout their careers, the Chapmans worked as a team, attending conferences and working on various Vanderbilt initiatives together. “We had interesting discussions at home about the expanding roles of nurses, doctors and others who were improving teamwork in health care,” Mrs. Chapman recalled in 2007.
In 1983, the Department of Nursing at Vanderbilt University Hospital honored Mrs. Chapman with an Award of Merit for her promotion of the collaborative model of nursing practice.
In recognition of their years of service to health professional education, in 2001 the main entrance of the old School of Medicine (in the current Medical Center North) was renamed the Judy Jean and John E. Chapman Quadrangle.
In 1988, Mrs. Chapman began a new career as a liaison in the medical school’s Department of Emergency Medicine, promoting emergency medical services to nurses, medical students and physicians, and riding along on emergency calls with the city’s EMS personnel.
Certified as an emergency medical technician (EMT), she helped develop and implement two popular medical school elective courses in emergency medicine. As senior associate in Emergency Medicine, she helped foster close relations between Vanderbilt and Nashville’s EMS community.
Corey Slovis, MD, professor emeritus of Emergency Medicine and former chair of the department, said Dr. Chapman paid him a visit one morning to tell him that “he got very little sleep overnight because Judy Jean had been monitoring multiple calls and a large fire.
“Judy Jean was a committed educator to Vanderbilt medical students,” Slovis said. “She had a passion for EMS that just radiated from her.”
“She was such a special lady to many of us,” added Joaquin Toon, EMS Commander for the Nashville Fire Department. The department and the EMS profession “has lost a tremendous ally.”
Among other contributions to her community, Mrs. Chapman served on the board of the Bill Wilkerson Hearing and Speech Center, which is now part of VUMC, and as a board member and former president of the Planned Parenthood Association of Nashville.
A Celebration of Life and Memorial Service will be held Saturday, September 27, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. at Hillsboro Presbyterian Church, 5820 Hillsboro Pike Nashville, TN 37215. For more about Mrs. Chapman, please read her Tennessean obituary