Mary Van Rensselaer Buell (June 14, 1893 – February 18, 1969) was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin.

[3][4] Her father was a lawyer, and her mother was a prominent clubwoman and Cornell University alumna.

[4] She worked on the chemistry of nucleic acids and nucleotides, the relation of hormones to the metabolism of carbohydrates, and the development of ultramicroscopic procedures for the analysis of enzyme activity.

[4] She was an instructor in physical chemistry from 1919 to 1920, and she served as an assistant professor of Home Economics at the University of Iowa from 1920 to 1921.

[4] In 1948, Buell began the first of two appointments at the University of Wisconsin Enzyme Institute, where she was a research associate from 1948 to 1950.