Mary Hinman Abel graduated from Elmira College in 1872. She married John J. Abel, who became a professor of pharmacology at Johns Hopkins Medical School. While in Germany with her husband when he was studying medicine, she learned nutrition science, and she won a National Public Health Association prize for her essay on the subject in 1888. She later wrote bulletins for the Department of Health in Washington, D.C. In her own city of Baltimore, she served as Supervisor of City Charities, overseeing Bay View Hospital and the various city agencies concerned with dependent children. In 1890, with Ellen H. Richards, Abel founded the New England Kitchen in Boston, which applied modern methods of choosing and preparing food for people of moderate means. Abel wrote various articles on nutrition, and also published a book, Successful family life on the moderate income.