Meet Natalie Chapel- Tulsa native, former Rev Up and Catalyst participant, and incoming medical student. Natalie has always understood discipline, perseverance, and what it means to push through challenges. Long before she ever dreamed of wearing a white coat, she was a competitive dancer. “I was always getting hurt,” she laughs, reflecting on the injuries. Appointments for sprains and overuse turned into pockets of inspiration. “I realized they understood the mechanics of movement in a way I didn’t but wanted to. After my first shadowing experience at sixteen, I knew—this is it. This is what I want to do.”
Natalie is the first in her family to pursue a career in healthcare, something that brought both a strong sense of pride and a foreboding uncertainty. “Nobody in my family works in medicine,” she explains. “I didn’t even know what I didn’t know.” Stepping onto the campus of the University of Oklahoma, Natalie didn’t let her lack of knowledge hold her back. “I started from scratch,” Natalie says. Through OU’s Catalyst Program, she was paired with a medical student mentor—now a radiology resident—who continues to guide her today. “Having mentors who helped me understand everything from the MCAT to specialty decisions made such a huge difference.” She talks about her mentors fondly noting that even that very first physician whom she shadowed at age sixteen still plays an active role in her journey and her community.
Beyond mentorship, one of the biggest lessons she learned at OU was understanding her own learning style. School didn’t always come easily; she had to work to adapt, ask questions, and spend extra time mastering material. “I realized I learn differently, and that’s okay,” she says. Natalie joined OU MED REV UP! a readiness program established to support and guide underserved, rural, and Native people through the challenges of medical school. With her newfound support and intentional self-awareness, Natalie turned a learning challenge into one of her greatest strengths.
When she’s not studying, Natalie centers her life around relationships, movement, and joy. She treasures one‑on‑one time with her closest friends and finds stress relief through running and staying active. Her love for dance is still very much alive. Now living back home, she teaches tumbling and dance classes to young children whenever she can. “They have no fear,” she says with a smile. “And I think we can all learn from that. You can do something, or you can do it scared—either way, you do it.”
When asked what advice she might pass onto students, Natalie’s guidance is simple. “Put out feelers everywhere! Get involved in different areas. Volunteer. Ask questions. Talk to people. Don’t be afraid to say, ‘I don’t know.’ Every experience teaches you something that becomes valuable later. Her own background—from working as a nurse tech to filing documents at her mother’s engineering company, from psychology courses to leadership roles—taught her that no experience is wasted. She reiterates, “Do things because you like them. Not just because they look good on paper.”
This fall, Natalie will begin her medical education at Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine at the Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah. As a Muscogee (Creek) Nation citizen, she’s eager and looks forward to training within a tribal community. When Natalie received her acceptance call, she was shocked, in the best possible way. “Even though this has always been the dream, it still felt surreal. Wait… this is happening to me?” Now, excitement fuels her forward. As she prepares to join OSU at the Cherokee Nation, Natalie steps confidently into a future she crafted with determination, heart, and community at the center. We are excited to see where her journey takes her and will be cheering her on as Oklahoma’s Own!