Cataract surgery inventor and Cancer Research Pioneer
Dr. Patricia Bath discovered and invented the laser probe Laserphaco, a new device and technique for cataract surgery, dramatically reducing the pain of cataract surgery and bringing sight to people who had been blind for decades. She studied the connections between cancer, nutrition and stress, concluding that cancer itself was a catabolic disease and tumor growth was a symptom, and also created a mathematical equation that could be used to predict cancer cell growth – discoveries that earned her a front page feature in The New York Times. She holds five patents in the medical field.
For her race and as a woman, her accomplishments were notable: first African-American doctor in the US to receive a medical patent (1988); first female African-American complete a residency in ophthalmology (NYU, 1973); first woman elected to honorary staff of UCLA Medical Center; first female member of the Jules Stein Eye Institute (1975), and the first woman to lead a post-graduate training program in ophthalmology. Recognizing that African Americans needed more eye care support –they were twice as likely to develop blindness and eight times as likely to develop glaucoma– she developed a community ophthalmology outreach program to provide treatment for those who could not afford it. In 1976, she co-founded the non-profit American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness.
Dr. Bath came from a humble background; her father was a motorman and her mother worked as a domestic. She was encouraged to pursue her education, graduating high school in two years as a National Science Foundation scholar. She went on to receive a BA in Chemistry from Hunter College –where she co-founded the Student National Medical Association– and a Medical degree from Howard University, where she organized and led its medical students in providing volunteer health care services for the Poor People’s Campaign in DC’s Resurrection City. She later obtained an ophthalmology fellowship at Columbia University.
Awards and Accolades
- NAACP: Black Woman Achievement Award (1995)
- Smithsonian Museum: Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention & Innovations Award (2000)
- American Medical Women’s Association Hall of Fame (2001)
- 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)
- Association of Black Women Physicians Lifetime Achievement Award for Ophthalmology contributions (2013)
- NY Academy of Medicine, John Stearns Medal for Distinguished Contributions in Clinical Practice (2018)
- National Inventors Hall of Fame (2021)
