Born in Ontario, Canada in 1879, Maude Lenora Menten was destined to study medicine. She attended the University of Toronto where she earned her BA, MB and MD. Through her dedication and desire to make a profound impact on her world, Maude Lenora Menten became one of the first women to earn a doctorate degree in medicine through a Canadian university.

Since research opportunities were limited to her in Canada because she was a woman, Menten choose to study abroad. She went to the United States and Germany in pursuit of furthering her studies and at The University of Chicago she was able to finish her thesis work.

Menten worked side by side with Leonor Michaelis, a German biochemist and their work together resulted in what would later become known as the Michaelis-Menten Kinetics. The equations that were used by Leonor Michaelis and Maude Menten relied heavily on an earlier study by Victor Henri.

Maude Menten’s work with Michaelis wasn’t the only thing that she did in her lifetime to make a profound mark on chemistry or the world of medicine. She invented an azo-dye coupling reaction for alkaline phosphatase and she also contributed to the research of hemoglobin among other medical research.

Maude Menten became an assistant professor and later a professor at The University of Pittsburgh. She retired in 1950 but it was short-lived. She accepted a position at the Medical Institute of British Columbia for a period of time following her more formal retirement.

Maude Lenora Menten will be remembered for her artistic endeavors perhaps as much as her medical research and discoveries. She was a musician as well as a painter and her love of the fine arts was widely known. In 1960, Maude Lenora Menten died in Ontario. Today, some of her paintings are on display at the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh.