She attended Mountain Aloysius Academy in Cresson, Pennsylvania, and from there went to, then Yale Medical School where she won awards in medical research and pediatrics. Her graduation at Yale in 1933 was accompanied by varied music at the ceremony because the unions refused to play. She later continued research at Harvard Medical School and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Her efforts to recruit more young women in the field of science included writing books for young girls about the profession. The character in some of her books mirrored Chandler’s own life with the exception that she never got married in real life. Her career ended with her resignation to the Maryland State Health Department because her proposals were being completely blocked or indefinitely delayed.
During World World War II, Doctor Chandler left the laboratory to carry out a special project for the Children’s Bureau in Washington, District of Columbia and was commissioned Surgeon in the United States Public Health Service.
After the war, Doctor Chandler returned to Johns Hopkins as a full-time Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, but as her interests in community groups and agencies grew, she had to limit her work to part-time. In 1961, Chandler joined the staff at the National Institute of Mental Health as chief of Demonstrations Section of the Communities Services Branch.
She headed the Child Mental Health Section of the Community Research and Services Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health. During all of these assignments, she remained an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Instructor of Mental Hygiene at Johns Hopkins.
