Nathaniel Chapman

Nathaniel Chapman (28 May 1780 – 1 July 1853) was an American physician. He was the founding president of the American Medical Association in 1847. Chapman founded the American Journal of the Medical Sciences in 1820 and served as its editor for some years, and also served as President of both the Philadelphia Medical Society and the American Philosophical Society (elected 1807). Early life Chapman was born in Summer Hill, located north of Four Mile Run in present-day Arlington County, Virginia, son of George Chapman and Amelia MacRae. He received his early education in six years at the classical academy of Alexandria. He later attended two colleges for a short time, before moving to Philadelphia in 1797, where he began studying under Benjamin Rush and attending lectures at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He earned his M.D. in 1800, with a thesis on hydrophobia. Personal life In 1808, he married Rebekah Biddle (1782-1870), the daughter of Clement Biddle and Rebekah Cornell of Philadelphia.