While reading about Marian Croak, I discovered Patricia Era Bath (1942 –2019), an American ophthalmologist, inventor, humanitarian, and academic who invented an improved device for laser cataract surgery, the Laserphaco Probe.
Firsts:
- First woman president (and co-founder) of Howard University’s Student National Medical Association.
- First woman to lead a post-graduate training program in ophthalmology
- First woman elected to the honorary staff of the UCLA Medical Center first African-American person to serve as a resident in ophthalmology at NYU
- First woman member of the Jules Stein Eye Institute
- First African-American woman to serve on staff as a surgeon at the UCLA Medical Center.
- First African-American woman doctor to receive a patent for a medical purpose.
Born in Harlem in 1942, Patricia Bath was the daughter of an immigrant from Trinidad who inspired her love for culture and encouraged her to explore different cultures. Patricia’s mother descended from African slaves and Native Americans and encouraged her love of science. She bought Patricia her first chemistry set. By the time she had reached high school, Bath was already a National Science Foundation scholar, leading to cancer research earning a front-page feature in the New York Times.
Bath applied for and won a National Science Foundation Scholarship while attending high school; this led her to a research project at Yeshiva University and Harlem Hospital Center studying connections between cancer, nutrition, and stress. She also discovered a mathematical equation used to predict cancer cell growth.
Patricia received her BA in chemistry from Hunter College, then attended Howard University College of Medicine, her first year at Howard coinciding with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. MLK Jr’s assassination in 1968 caused Bath to dedicate herself to the empowerment of people through the Poor People’s Campaign. She organized and led Howard University medical students in providing volunteer health care services in the summer of 1968. Bath returned to Harlem and served her residency NYU. She then began her career in Los Angeles, becoming the first woman ophthalmologist on the faculty at UCLA. A strong advocate for telemedicine, Dr. Bath supported the innovation of virtual labs, as a part of the ophthalmology residency training programs. While at UCLA, Bath wanted to pursue research. Being denied grants and resources by the National Institutes of Health and the National Eye Institute, she looked further for the best laboratories in the world, to support her plans for innovation.
Bath’s humanitarian efforts can be seen through the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness, created on the principle that “eyesight was a basic human right.” Bath was able to spread eye care throughout the globe by providing newborns with free eye drops, vitamins for malnourishment, and vaccinations against diseases that can cause blindness. Bath claims her “personal best moment” was while she was in North Africa and restored the sight of a woman who been blind for over 30 years. Bath lectured internationally and authored over 100 papers.
Books for young people about her life and work in science:
Patricia’s Vision: The Doctor Who Saved Sight, by Michelle Lord
Patricia Bath and Laser Surgery by Ellen Labrecqua
The Doctor with an Eye for Eyes: The Story of Dr. Patricia Bath by Julia Finley Mosca.
https://www.biography.com/scientists/patricia-bath https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Bath
