About Chantal Tapé
Dr. Chantal Tapé is a family medicine physician with a passion for reproductive justice and equitable care for the underserved. She brings valuable experience across a variety of healthcare-related positions as clinical researcher and advocate in addition to medical provider, with additional expertise in motivational interviewing and qualitative research. She completed her residency at the University of Pennsylvania, her MD from Brown University, and BA from Brown University in Anthropology and Gender & Sexuality Studies. She has interests in sexual and reproductive health, LGBTQ health, weight-neutral and trauma-informed care. When she is not in clinic, you can find her searching for the best donut in every new city she visits or scouring a used bookstore for out-of-print treasures.
What aspects of practicing medicine do you find most rewarding?
There are so many aspects of our health that aren’t discussed openly in our society, particularly the intimate details about how our bodies function and how common it is for them to malfunction in ways that may induce shame or secrecy. I love being able to speak openly with my patients about conditions or symptoms that they may never have spoken to anyone about. I like breaking down myths and confronting stigma wherever I can – because these societal limitations only stand in the way of truly equitable health and access to knowledge. I like to think that my patients feel a bit more empowered, if they leave the clinic feeling seen, cared for, and not judged.
Who in the world – dead or alive – inspires you? And why?
Dr. Rebecca Gomperts is a huge inspiration to me. Dr. Gomperts is a Dutch physician, activist, and founder of Aid Access as well as several other organizations that navigate the barriers to accessing safe, legal abortion care around the world. What I find so inspiring about her work is that she consistently thinks outside the box and challenges the established norms about how healthcare is delivered. It’s so easy in medicine to accept a status quo in which some people are left out – and her work really exemplifies for me what it means to bring care to people who need it and to show tremendous creativity in figuring out how to do that.
