Patricia Bath a black female inovator

Patricia Era Bath was a black female innovator and her efforts have resulted in preventing blindness and also helping the blind to see again. She was born on November 4, 1942, in Harlem, New York, and completed high school in only 2 years and at the age of 16. Her father encouraged her to travel and her mother purchased her first chemistry set. While in school Bath was one of only a few students who were selected to attend a cancer research workshop sponsored by the National Science Foundation. During the project, the head of the program Dr. Robert Bernard became impressed with Bath's discoveries.

He thought so highly of her work that he incorporated her findings in a scientific paper he later presented during a conference. In 1960, at the age of 18, Bath won the Mademoiselle magazine's Merit Award because of the publicity surrounding her findings. In 1968 she graduated from Howard University Medical school and pursued a fellowship in Opthalmology at Columbia University. She found out during her studies that African Americans were at a higher risk for Glaucoma and blindness.

This led her to begin working on programs to assist those who needed eye care but could not afford it. In 1973 she became the first African American to complete a residency in ophthalmology. In 1975 she became the first female faculty member at UCLA's Jules Stein Eye Institute. Department of Ophthalmology. In 1976, Patricia Bath co-founded the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness, "which established that eyesight is a basic human right."

In 1986 Bath did research at Rothschilde Eye Institute of Paris. She worked in the laboratory of Danièle Aron-Rosa, a pioneer researcher in lasers and ophthalmology. She later did research at the Laser Medical Center in Berlin, where she began early studies in laser cataract surgery. This is where she conducted her first experiment with excimer laser photoablation using eyes from human eye banks. Patricia Bath invented the Laserphaco Probe, in 1986 which became her most famous invention, and improved treatment for cataract patients by reducing pain and increasing precision.

She received a patent for the device in 1988, which made her the first female African American doctor to receive a medical patent. She holds a total of 5 US patents and three of them relate to the Laserphaco Probe. Thanks to Patricia Bath, people who had been blind for as long as 30 years were able to receive their sight. Bath retired from UCLA Medical Center in 1993 and became an honorary medical staff member. She was also named a Howard University Pioneer in Academic Medicine."

Among her many awards are the following:

1995: NAACP Legal Defense Fund Black Woman Achievement Award

1999: Smithsonian Museum included her in their Innovative Lives Exhibition and Program.

2011: American Academy of Ophthalmology induction into the Museum of Vision for contributions to Ophthalmology

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: Time Magazine "Firsts: Women Who Are Changing the World” for being the first to invent and demonstrate laser phaco cataract surgery.

2018: New York Academy of Medicine John Stearns Medal for Distinguished Contributions in Clinical Practice, for the invention of laser phaco cataract surgery.

Patricia Bath passed away at age 76 on May 30, 2019, Her cause of death was from cancer-related complications.