DR. PATRICIA BATH
(1942-2019)
Educator Inventor Ophthalmologist and laser scientist
“Do not allow your mind to be imprisoned by majority thinking. Remember that the limits of science are not the limits of your imagination.”
Patricia Bath was the first female African American to complete a residency in ophthalmology and the first African American female doctor to receive a medical patent. She invented the Laserphaco Probe for cataract treatment in 1986. She invented the Laserphaco.The laserphaco probe is a tool that uses a tiny laser to safely vaporize cataracts in a patient’s eye. Once the probe has removed the cataract, a surgeon is then able to remove the lens of the eye and insert a replacement.
Bath holds five patents in the United States. Three of Bath’s five patents relate to the Laserphaco Probe. In 2000, she was granted a patent for a method for using pulsed ultrasound to remove cataracts, and in 2003 a patent for combining laser and ultrasound to remove cataracts.
Dr. Bath was the first woman to chair an ophthalmology residency program in the United States.
She also co-founded the non-profit American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness. The National Institute of Medicine recognized Bath’s many achievements in a biography titled “Changing the Face of Medicine.”
Among her many roles, Bath was chief of the ophthalmology division at the Martin Luther King, Jr., General Hospital/Charles Drew Postgraduate Medical School (since renamed), and director of the school’s ophthalmology residency training program.
As a physician and inventor she helped ‘restore or improve vision for millions’ Dr. Patricia Bath, the first female faculty member in ophthalmology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Bath is survived by her daughter, Dr. Eraka Bath, a member of the psychiatry faculty at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Today the device is use worldwide. With the keratoprosthesis device, Dr. Bath was able to recover the sight of several individuals who had been blind for over 30 years. In 1993, Bath retired from UCLA Medical Center and was appointed to the honorary medical staff.
She passed away from complications of cancer at a University of California San Francisco medical center at the age of 76, physician and inventor who helped ‘restore or improve vision for millions’ Dr. Patricia Bath, the first female faculty member in ophthalmology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Bath is survived by her daughter, Dr. Eraka Bath, a member of the psychiatry faculty at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
She was such a great person and leader I will miss her. I always smile when I see her. Please read more and go to the Library of Congress a lot more is there on her.
Patents
U.S. patent 4744360, “Apparatus for ablating and removing cataract lenses”, issued May 17, 1988
U.S. patent 5843071, “Method and apparatus for ablating and removing cataract lenses” issued December 1, 1998
U.S. patent 5919186, “Laser apparatus for surgery of cataractous lenses”, issued July 6, 1999.
U.S. patent 6083192, “Pulsed ultrasound method for fragmenting/emulsifying and removing cataractous lenses, issued July 4, 2000.
U.S. patent 6544254, “Combination ultrasound and laser method and apparatus for removing cataract lenses”, issued April 8, 2003.
Honors
1995: NAACP Legal Defense Fund Black Woman Achievement Award
2000: Smithsonian Museum’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation included her in the Innovative Lives program
2001: American Medical Women’s Association induction into the Hall of Fame
2006: Tubman’s Sheila Award
2011: Dr. Bath was interviewed for the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Museum of Vision oral history collection that “preserves the memories and experiences of people whose lives are an inspiration.”
2012: Tribeca Film Festival Disruptive Innovation Award
2013: Association of Black Women Physicians Lifetime Achievement Award for Ophthalmology Contributions
2014: Alpha Kappa Alpha Presidential Award for Health and Medical Sciences
2014: Howard University Charter Day Award for Distinguished Achievement in Ophthalmology and Medicine.
2017: Medscape one of 12 “Women Physicians who Changed the Course of American Medicine”
2017: Time Magazine “Firsts: Women Who Are Changing the World” for being the first to invent and demonstrate laserphaco cataract surgery
2017: Hunter College Hall of Fame induction
2018: New York Academy of Medicine John Stearns Medal for Distinguished Contributions in Clinical Practice, for invention of laserphaco cataract surgery
2018: Alliance for Aging Research: Silver Innovator Award for contributions and research toward blindness prevention
2021, it was announced that she would be one of the first two black women (along with Marian Croak) to be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Dr. Bath had also been a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons from 1976 to 1989, a fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, as well as a member of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery and the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.
Dr. Bath has been honored by two of her universities. Hunter College placed her in its “Hall of Fame” in 1988 and Howard University declared her a “Howard University Pioneer in Academic Medicine” in 1993.