Myrtelle May Canavan (1879–1953) described a progressive familial spongy degeneration of the cerebral white matter.¹ Since van Bogaert and Bertrand^2,3 also described the condition, and established its nosology, it is known as Canavan’s disease or, van Bogaert–Bertrand^2,4 syndrome.

Myrtelle Canavan was an American neuropathologist, born 24 June 1879 in St Johns, Michigan.⁵ She graduated MD, at the Michigan State College, and the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1905. She married Dr James Francis Canavan. In 1907, while working as laboratory …