Star Trek's original USS Enterprise, led by Captain Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter, Anson Mount) and Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), has had four doctors serving as Chief Medical Officer. The Starship Enterprise is regularly assigned five-year missions of deep space exploration by 23rd century Starfleet. The physical, mental, and emotional health of the USS Enterprise's crew, which consists of 200 to 400 souls, is the responsibility of the Chief Medical Officer.
Star Trek fans are accustomed to a particular doctor as the Chief Medical Officer of the Starship Enterprise. In Star Trek: The Next Generation, the CMO was Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), although Dr. Katherine Pulaski (Diana Muldaur) replaced Crusher in TNG season 2. Star Trek: Enterprise only had one Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Phlox (John Billingsley). However, the USS Enterprise NCC-1701, which had been in service since 2245, had four Chief Medical Officers at various points during Captain Pike and Captain Kirk's commands.
4 Doctors Aboard Captain Pike & Kirk’s USS Enterprise Explained
The Starship Enterprise Rotates Chief Medical Officers
The Starship Enterprise's four doctors are a result of the evolution of Star Trek when it became an NBC TV series in the mid-1960s, and five decades later, when the prequel Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was created. Dr. Phil Boyce (John Hoyt) was the Enterprise's first Chief Medical Officer. Boyce only appeared in Star Trek's original pilot, "The Cage." Boyce was replaced by Dr. Mark Piper (Paul Fix), who also made only one appearance in Star Trek: The Original Series' second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before."
Dr. M'Benga, played by Booker Bradshaw, also appeared as an expert on Vulcans in Star Trek: The Original Series.
Finally, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds introduced Dr. Joseph M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun), the USS Enterprise's Chief Medical Officer in the years before Star Trek: The Original Series begins. However, in terms of the order these physicians served on the Enterprise in Star Trek's timeline, it's Dr. Boyce under Captain Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) in 2254, Dr. M'Benga from 2259 onwards under Captain Pike (Anson Mount), Dr. Piper under Captain Kirk briefly in 2265, and then Dr. McCoy under Captain Kirk from 2265 until 2293.
Nurse Chapel Becomes A Doctor After Star Trek: The Original Series
The Starship Enterprise Had One Nurse Working With Two Doctors
Nurse Christine Chapel is the primary nurse of the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek: The Original Series and in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) in her younger years on Strange New Worlds works alongside Dr. M'Benga, with whom she has a history as veterans of Star Trek: Discovery's Klingon War. Nurse Chapel (Majel Barrett-Roddenberry) continues serving on the USS Enterprise in Star Trek: The Original Series under Dr. Leonard McCoy.
Christine finally becomes Doctor Chapel in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and she is the fifth physician to serve as Chief Medical Officer of the USS Enterprise. However, Admiral Kirk drafted a retired Dr. McCoy back into Starfleet and installed Bones as his CMO, a position McCoy retained for almost 20 more years, until Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Still, Christine Chapel is the first to rise from nurse to doctor and Chief Medical Officer of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek.
