Day 24 Black History Month 2021 - Dr. Patricia E. Bath

Dr. Patricia E. Bath (November 1942 – May 2019)

For day 24 of Black History Month, we’d like to highlight Dr. Patricia E. Bath, an American ophthalmologist, inventor, educator and humanitarian. She is the first African American to serve as a resident of ophthalmology at New York University, the first African American woman to serve on staff as a surgeon at the UCLA medical center and the first African American woman to receive a patent for a medical purpose.

Dr. Bath studied chemistry at Hunter College in New York City, and graduated in 1964. She went on to complete her medical training at Howard University and graduated with honors in 1968.

As a humanitarian, Dr. Bath dedicated herself to the treatment and prevention of blindness, which led her to develop Cataract Laserphaco Probe, which could be used to quickly and painlessly remove cataracts from a patient’s eyes. She also founded the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness in Washington D.C., which was started on the simple principle that “eyesight was a basic human right.” AIPB has been training medical professionals since 1976, to help treat individuals with eye problems around the world. 

“Sexism, racism, and relative poverty were the obstacles which I faced as a young girl growing up in Harlem. There were no women physicians I knew of and surgery was a male-dominated profession; no high schools existed in Harlem, a predominantly black community; additionally, blacks were excluded from numerous medical schools and medical societies and, my family did not possess the funds to send me to medical school.” – Dr. Patricia E. Bath