Edwin Chappabitty, Jr. M.D. Scholarship

Edwin Chappabitty, Jr., M.D., graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1967 with a B.S. in Zoology. He spent the next five years in the Army as a Field Artillery Officer. He served in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970, where he received numerous awards for valor. Chappabitty left the Army in 1972 to attend Dartmouth College for post-graduate studies. In 1980, he received his medical degree from the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He completed an internship and residency in Family Practice at the University of New Mexico Hospital. In 1983, Dr. Chappabitty was commissioned in the U.S. Public Health Service, as an Indian Health Service physician, and was assigned to the Lawton Indian Hospital where he was born. For the next twenty five years he served as a Family Practice physician in Lawton, and at the Physicians’ Hospital in Anadarko. During his tenure, he served multiple times as the, Department Chairman. Chief of Staff, and Clinical Director. Dr. Chappabitty also served on the Executive Committee of the National Council of Clinical Directors. He retired from the Indian Health Service in 2008 and began a second career as the first medical director to the Comanche Nation in Lawton.

Dr. Chappabitty appeared in the award winning KFOR TV (OKC) documentary “Strangers in Their Own Land” in 1993. In 1996, he was honored by the Association of American Indian Physicians as “Physician of the Year.” He received the “Hero Award” of the Journal of Minority Medical Students in 1997. He appeared in the Oklahoma Today article of May/June 1999 titled “The New Medicine Men.” In 2002, he was selected as the “OSU Distinguished Alumnus.” He was mentioned in the book Indian Tribes of Oklahoma, A Guide in 2009. In 2015, Dr. Chappabitty was honored as a Distinguished Alumni and inducted into the inaugural College of Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame. Dr. Chappabitty has long advocated for Native American students to receive educations and to pursue health careers.

The Chappabitty scholarship is an annual award of $1000; more than one may be given in any year. Students must be enrolled in one of the three majors in the Department of Integrative Biology, have a 3.0 GPA, have at least ¼ Native American blood (documented from one or more tribes), and have primary interests in a health profession. Transfer students and incoming freshmen, with a 3.2 GPA, who meet all the above requirements, may also apply for the scholarship.

To support Dr. Chappabitty's effort to provide funding for Native American Students pursuing a profession in health, please here.