Patricia Era Bath (November 4, 1942 - May 30, 2019) was an American ophthalmologist, laser scientist, and humanitarian whose innovative research and unwavering dedication significantly advanced the field of ophthalmology. She was a trailblazer, breaking barriers and advocating for equal access to eye care.
Dr. Bath's dedication to medicine began in childhood, inspired by Dr. Albert Schweitzer's service to lepers in the Congo. After excelling in her studies and earning awards for scientific research as early as age sixteen, she embarked on a career in medicine.
Dr. Patricia Bath
Early Life and Education
Born in Harlem, New York, Patricia Bath was the daughter of Rupert and Gladys Bath. Her father, an immigrant from Trinidad, inspired her love for culture and encouraged her to explore different cultures. Her mother, descended from African slaves and Cherokee Native Americans, encouraged her dreams and love of science, buying her her first chemistry set.
Throughout her childhood, Bath was often told by her parents to "never settle for less than [her] best" and had been encouraged by their support of her education. By the time she had reached high school, Bath was already a National Science Foundation scholar.
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Inspired by Albert Schweitzer's work in medicine, 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.
Bath received her Bachelor of Arts in chemistry from Manhattan's Hunter College in 1964. She then relocated to Washington, D.C. to attend Howard University College of Medicine.
Medical Training and Early Career
Bath received her medical degree from Howard University College of Medicine in 1968. Her first year at Howard coincided with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. She co-founded the Student National Medical Association and became its first woman president in 1965.
Following her graduation, she interned at Harlem Hospital from 1968 to 1969 and completed a fellowship in ophthalmology at Columbia University from 1969 to 1970. After her internship, Dr. Bath completed her training at New York University between 1970 and 1973, where she was the first African American resident in ophthalmology. Bath married and had a daughter Eraka, born 1972.
After completing her residency at New York University, Bath began a Corneal fellowship program at Columbia University, which focused on corneal transplantation and keratoprosthesis surgery (1973 to 1974). While a fellow, she was recruited by both the UCLA Jules Stein Eye Institute and Charles R. Drew University to co-found an ophthalmology residency program at Martin Luther King, Jr. Hospital.
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She then began her career in Los Angeles, becoming the first woman ophthalmologist on the faculty at Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA. At both institutions, Bath rose to the rank of associate professor. At UCLA, she founded the Ophthalmic Assistant Training Program (OATP) in 1978.
Community Ophthalmology: Addressing Disparities in Eye Care
As a young intern shuttling between Harlem Hospital and Columbia University, Bath observed that at the eye clinic in Harlem, half the patients were blind or visually impaired. At the eye clinic at Columbia, by contrast, there were very few obviously blind patients. This observation led her to conduct a retrospective epidemiological study, which documented that blindness among blacks was double that among whites.
She reached the conclusion that the high prevalence of blindness among blacks was due to lack of access of ophthalmic care. As a result, she proposed a new discipline, known as community ophthalmology, which is now operative worldwide. Community ophthalmology combines aspects of public health, community medicine, and clinical ophthalmology to offer primary care to underserved populations.
Volunteers trained as eye workers visit senior centers and daycare programs to test vision and screen for cataracts, glaucoma, and other threatening eye conditions. This outreach has saved the sight of thousands whose problems would otherwise have gone undiagnosed and untreated.
Bath was also instrumental in bringing ophthalmic surgical services to Harlem Hospital's Eye Clinic, which did not perform eye surgery in 1968. She persuaded her professors at Columbia to operate on blind patients for free, and she volunteered as an assistant surgeon.
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Eye examination
Key Aspects of Community Ophthalmology:
- Focuses on providing primary eye care to underserved populations.
- Combines public health, community medicine, and clinical ophthalmology.
- Employs trained volunteers to conduct vision screenings in community settings.
- Aims to diagnose and treat eye conditions early to prevent blindness.
Breaking Barriers and Overcoming Challenges
In 1974 Bath joined the faculty of UCLA and Charles R. Drew University as an assistant professor of surgery (Drew) and ophthalmology (UCLA). The following year she became the first woman faculty member in the Department of Ophthalmology at UCLA's Jules Stein Eye Institute.
When she became the first woman faculty in the department, she was offered an office "in the basement next to the lab animals." She refused the spot. "I didn't say it was racist or sexist. I said it was inappropriate and succeeded in getting acceptable office space.
Despite university policies extolling equality and condemning discrimination, Professor Bath experienced numerous instances of sexism and racism throughout her tenure at both UCLA and Drew. Determined that her scientific endeavors not be obstructed by the "glass ceilings" in the US, she took her research abroad to Europe.
Her work was accepted on its merits at the Laser Medical Center of Berlin, West Germany, the Rothschild Eye Institute of Paris, France, and the Loughborough Institute of Technology, England.
The American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness (AIPB)
Bath's work and interests, however, always went beyond the confines of a university. In 1977, she and three other colleagues founded the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness, an organization whose mission is to protect, preserve, and restore the gift of sight.
The AIPB is based on the principle that eyesight is a basic human right and that primary eye care must be made available to all people, everywhere, regardless of their economic status. Much of the work of the AIPB is done though ophthalmic assistants, who are trained in programs at major universities. As director of AIPB, Bath traveled widely.
Through this organization, Bath spreads eye care worldwide by providing newborns with free eye drops, vitamins, and vaccinations against diseases that can cause blindness, including measles. With AIPB, Bath traveled to Tanzania in 2005, where cataracts were the main cause of childhood blindness. In Africa, AIPB provided computers and other digital resources for visually impaired students, specifically at the Mwereni School for the Blind in Tanzania and St.
The Laserphaco Probe: A Revolutionary Invention
Standard vs. Laser Cataract Surgery | Duke Health
When she first conceived of the device in 1981, her idea was more advanced than the technology available at the time. It took her nearly five years to complete the research and testing needed to make it work and apply for a patent. Bath coined the term "laser phaco" for the process, short for laser photoablative cataract surgery, and developed the laser phaco probe, a medical device that improves on the use of lasers to remove cataracts, and "for ablating and removing cataract lenses". Today the device is use worldwide.
With the keratoprosthesis device, Dr. Bath invented laserphaco, a new device and technique to remove cataracts. It performed all steps of cataract removal: making the incision, destroying the lens and vacuuming out the fractured pieces. patent issued in 1988.
Cataract surgery
Key Features of the Laserphaco Probe:
- Uses lasers to precisely remove cataracts.
- Minimizes damage to surrounding tissue.
- Reduces pain and recovery time for patients.
Later Career and Legacy
In 1993, Bath retired from UCLA Medical Center and was appointed to the honorary medical staff. After that, she advocated for telemedicine, the use of electronic communication to provide medical services to remote areas where health care is limited. She has held positions in telemedicine at Howard University and St.
Dr. Bath's greatest passion, however, continued to be fighting blindness until her death in May 2019. Her "personal best moment" occurred on a humanitarian mission to North Africa, when she restored the sight of a woman who had been blind for thirty years by implanting a keratoprosthesis.
Bath was recognized for her philanthropic work in the field of ophthalmology by President Barack Obama. In April 2019, Bath testified in a hearing called the "Trailblazers and Lost Einsteins: Women Inventors and the Future of American Innovation" at the Senate Office Building in Washington D.C.
Honors and Awards
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.
Several books for young people have been published about her life and work in science, including "Patricia's Vision: The Doctor Who Saved Sight" by Michelle Lord; "Patricia Bath and Laser Surgery" by Ellen Labrecqua, and "The Doctor with an Eye for Eyes: The Story of Dr. Patricia Bath" by Julia Finley Mosca, which was cited by both the National Science Teachers Association and the Chicago Public Library's list of best children's books of the year.
| Award/Recognition | Year |
|---|---|
| Hunter College Hall of Fame | 1988 |
| Howard University Pioneer in Academic Medicine | 1993 |
