We have been highlighting Black women who have made contributions in the field of medicine. In our last two posts, we highlighted four amazing women – Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler, first Black woman to receive an M.D. and Mary Eliza Mahoney, the first black licensed nurse, Alice Ball, first Black woman to receive a master’s degree in chemistry, and Dr. Marie Daly, first Black woman to receive a PhD. In chemistry.
Many Black women have made contributions in science and medicine. Up until now their names have been in obscurity. Finally, you can find information about them. I hope that my posts will contribute in a small way to the honor and recognition that they deserve. I thank God for these women and the thousands of people who have been helped by their achievements. We should give credit where credit is due.
The woman in this week’s story encountered incredible prejudice yet persevered to fulfill her dream of helping others by working to save the eyesight of countless thousands.
Dr. Patricia Bath – Ophthalmologist – Laser Eye Surgery
Philosophically, I like to think that my greatest accomplishment has to be in those moments when I’ve helped someone regain eyesight, when I remove the patient’s patch, and he starts with the big E and goes all the way down to the 20/20 line. But then I realize that many times, you cannot be the surgeon for everyone who needs eye surgery and that there are more people blinded by preventable causes and treatable causes then any given ophthalmologist could ever treat. Dr. Patricia Bath
There are so many stories of Black women who have done research and made discoveries that have given thousands if not millions of people a better life. Like the other black women in our posts, Dr. Bath had to go up against the prejudice of those who minimized the work of women and non-whites. And like the other women, she wanted to serve others. Millions of people can be thankful that she resolutely carried on.
Dr. Patricia Bath is a First in several fields including – the First Black woman in the U.S. to hold a medical device patent and the First Black woman to chair an ophthalmology residency training program in the U.S. Dr. Bath also invented a cataract removal procedure that was less invasive than previous surgeries. Her strong desire to serve makes her not only a significant figure in medicine but also a wonderful and admirable person that we can all admire.
Patricia Bath was born on November 4, 1942, in Harlem, NY. Her family physician, Dr. Cecil Marquez was the first of many influences on Patricia’s life. She later said that it was Dr. Marquez who influenced her the most to go into medicine. Her high school teacher enabled Patricia to get involved with the National Science Foundation where she had the opportunity to do scientific research. From there, Patricia pursued her interest in medicine until she graduated with her medical degree form Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, D.C. in 1968.
Dr. Bath did significant research.
There were two other strong influences in her life. One was Dr. Lois A. Young who directed her into a career in ophthalmology. The other was Dr. Daniele Aron-Rosa whose work advanced the application of lasers in ophthalmology. Dr. Bath worked in Dr. Aron-Rosa’s lab at the Rothschild Eye Institute where she began her focus on ophthalmology.
Dr. Bath lived through the sixties which were tumultuous times for African Americans. Thankfully for the many people she would help, she met Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and joined in his work to bring justice for poor Blacks. Dr. King had a vision and a plan for government help for the poor but was assassinated before he could put his project into action. Dr. Bath joined the Poor People’s Campaign of 1963 because she was inspired to help poor Blacks. A camp of 3000 tents was formed and people who shared Dr. King’s vision for better housing, employment and other programs for the poor came to take part in the event. With other medical students Patricia Bath agreed to provide free health services to the people in the camp.
Dr. Bath wanted to help all of the poor and with her interest in eye health, she co-founded the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness. In 1975 Dr. Bath joined the Jules Stein Eye Institute at the University of California, LA. Here she became the first woman on the faculty at the Department of Ophthalmology. Though UCLA had opened the doors to Blacks, the university was continually discriminating against them. Due to racial and gender prejudice Dr. Bath was at first offered an office in the basement next to the lab animals rather than with her colleagues in the regular office space. Dr. Bath responded by refusing the spot. She didn’t accuse UCLA of racism or sexism. She said, “it was inappropriate and succeeded in getting acceptable office space. I decided I was just going to do my work.” By 1983 she was chair of the ophthalmology residency training program at Drew-UCLA, the first woman in the US to hold such a position.[1]
Because of the discrimination she experienced at UCLA, Dr. Bath took her research to Europe. Her work was accepted at the Laser Medical Center of Berlin, West Germany, the Rothschild Eye Institute of Paris, and the Loughborough Institute of Technology, England. She achieved her goals in research and laser science and she persevered until the fruits of her efforts resulted in the patents that she received for laser eye surgery. Thousands, no maybe millions, can be thankful that she didn’t give up, but did whatever it took to bring better treatment for eye patients.
Perhaps the achievement that she is most well-known for is the invention of the Laserphaco probe. This probe revolutionized cataract removal surgery. Cataracts are one of the leading causes of blindness. Dr. Bath’s method was less invasive, more precise, less time-consuming, and resulted in less eye injuries than the previous methods. The laser makes tiny incisions in the eye. The old lens is removed and a new one is inserted. Patients can go home the same day with few painful side effects and look forward to better eyesight in a shorter period of time than with the old method.
Dr. Bath later said, “When I talked to people about it, they said it couldn’t be done. UCLA did not have the lasers I needed. We don’t have a national laser institute. Our laser superiority is mostly weapon/military-related.” Hence, Dr. Bath went to Europe.
Dr. Bath spent years developing the Laserphaco probe. She received her patent for it in 1988, becoming the first Black female doctor to hold a patent for a medical device. She later received 4 more patents in the U.S. and one each in Japan, Europe, and Canada.
The Laserphaco was a groundbreaking achievement, but Dr. Bath was equally concerned about the inequity in eye treatment for the Black community. She established a new field called “community ophthalmology”. This venture tries to bring lens replacement to the poor. Dr. Bath noticed while working in a Harlem eye clinic that half the patients were blind or visionally impaired. She contrasted that with the fact that at the eye clinic in Columbia there were very few patients who were blind. She conducted a study and found that Black Americans had a blindness rate that was 3.6 times higher than for white people. Glaucoma was 8 times higher.
Dr. Bath realized that the disparity was because of lack of education about eye health and lack of treatment in Black communities. Dr. Bath advocated for programs to educate Blacks on eye health and spread awareness of the causes of blindness and the need for early diagnosis and treatment. Her greatest passion was fighting blindness. She said that 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.[2] ‘The ability to restore sight is the ultimate reward,’ she said.”[3]
Dr. Patricia Bath died on May 30, 2019, in an unsuccessful struggle against cancer. She left behind a tremendous legacy for eye health in the United States and indeed the whole world. Because of her efforts thousands of people in remote communities here and around the world received care and saved their eyesight.
We can all be thankful to God that women like Dr. Patrician Bath overcame the obstacles of prejudice in our society to achieve their visions. Patricia Bath believed in herself and the work she could do to persevere in the face of the injustice. The whole world should be grateful for her courage. Racial prejudice is lessening but we have a long way to go. What wonderful things have we missed because we denied opportunities to called and gifted women, black or white?
[2] Keratoprosthesis is a surgical procedure where a diseased cornea is replaced with an artificial cornea. It is used today for patients whose eyes have trouble accepting donor corneal transplants.
Black Female Medical Innovators
Black Women in Medicine – Part 3
We have been highlighting Black women who have made contributions in the field of medicine. In our last two posts, we highlighted four amazing women – Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler, first Black woman to receive an M.D. and Mary Eliza Mahoney, the first black licensed nurse, Alice Ball, first Black woman to receive a master’s degree in chemistry, and Dr. Marie Daly, first Black woman to receive a PhD. In chemistry.
Many Black women have made contributions in science and medicine. Up until now their names have been in obscurity. Finally, you can find information about them. I hope that my posts will contribute in a small way to the honor and recognition that they deserve. I thank God for these women and the thousands of people who have been helped by their achievements. We should give credit where credit is due.
The woman in this week’s story encountered incredible prejudice yet persevered to fulfill her dream of helping others by working to save the eyesight of countless thousands.
Dr. Patricia Bath – Ophthalmologist – Laser Eye Surgery
Philosophically, I like to think that my greatest accomplishment has to be in those moments when I’ve helped someone regain eyesight, when I remove the patient’s patch, and he starts with the big E and goes all the way down to the 20/20 line. But then I realize that many times, you cannot be the surgeon for everyone who needs eye surgery and that there are more people blinded by preventable causes and treatable causes then any given ophthalmologist could ever treat. Dr. Patricia Bath
There are so many stories of Black women who have done research and made discoveries that have given thousands if not millions of people a better life. Like the other black women in our posts, Dr. Bath had to go up against the prejudice of those who minimized the work of women and non-whites. And like the other women, she wanted to serve others. Millions of people can be thankful that she resolutely carried on.
Dr. Patricia Bath is a First in several fields including – the First Black woman in the U.S. to hold a medical device patent and the First Black woman to chair an ophthalmology residency training program in the U.S. Dr. Bath also invented a cataract removal procedure that was less invasive than previous surgeries. Her strong desire to serve makes her not only a significant figure in medicine but also a wonderful and admirable person that we can all admire.
Patricia Bath was born on November 4, 1942, in Harlem, NY. Her family physician, Dr. Cecil Marquez was the first of many influences on Patricia’s life. She later said that it was Dr. Marquez who influenced her the most to go into medicine. Her high school teacher enabled Patricia to get involved with the National Science Foundation where she had the opportunity to do scientific research. From there, Patricia pursued her interest in medicine until she graduated with her medical degree form Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, D.C. in 1968.
There were two other strong influences in her life. One was Dr. Lois A. Young who directed her into a career in ophthalmology. The other was Dr. Daniele Aron-Rosa whose work advanced the application of lasers in ophthalmology. Dr. Bath worked in Dr. Aron-Rosa’s lab at the Rothschild Eye Institute where she began her focus on ophthalmology.
Dr. Bath lived through the sixties which were tumultuous times for African Americans. Thankfully for the many people she would help, she met Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and joined in his work to bring justice for poor Blacks. Dr. King had a vision and a plan for government help for the poor but was assassinated before he could put his project into action. Dr. Bath joined the Poor People’s Campaign of 1963 because she was inspired to help poor Blacks. A camp of 3000 tents was formed and people who shared Dr. King’s vision for better housing, employment and other programs for the poor came to take part in the event. With other medical students Patricia Bath agreed to provide free health services to the people in the camp.
Dr. Bath wanted to help all of the poor and with her interest in eye health, she co-founded the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness. In 1975 Dr. Bath joined the Jules Stein Eye Institute at the University of California, LA. Here she became the first woman on the faculty at the Department of Ophthalmology. Though UCLA had opened the doors to Blacks, the university was continually discriminating against them. Due to racial and gender prejudice Dr. Bath was at first offered an office in the basement next to the lab animals rather than with her colleagues in the regular office space. Dr. Bath responded by refusing the spot. She didn’t accuse UCLA of racism or sexism. She said, “it was inappropriate and succeeded in getting acceptable office space. I decided I was just going to do my work.” By 1983 she was chair of the ophthalmology residency training program at Drew-UCLA, the first woman in the US to hold such a position.[1]
Because of the discrimination she experienced at UCLA, Dr. Bath took her research to Europe. Her work was accepted at the Laser Medical Center of Berlin, West Germany, the Rothschild Eye Institute of Paris, and the Loughborough Institute of Technology, England. She achieved her goals in research and laser science and she persevered until the fruits of her efforts resulted in the patents that she received for laser eye surgery. Thousands, no maybe millions, can be thankful that she didn’t give up, but did whatever it took to bring better treatment for eye patients.
Perhaps the achievement that she is most well-known for is the invention of the Laserphaco probe. This probe revolutionized cataract removal surgery. Cataracts are one of the leading causes of blindness. Dr. Bath’s method was less invasive, more precise, less time-consuming, and resulted in less eye injuries than the previous methods. The laser makes tiny incisions in the eye. The old lens is removed and a new one is inserted. Patients can go home the same day with few painful side effects and look forward to better eyesight in a shorter period of time than with the old method.
Dr. Bath later said, “When I talked to people about it, they said it couldn’t be done. UCLA did not have the lasers I needed. We don’t have a national laser institute. Our laser superiority is mostly weapon/military-related.” Hence, Dr. Bath went to Europe.
Dr. Bath spent years developing the Laserphaco probe. She received her patent for it in 1988, becoming the first Black female doctor to hold a patent for a medical device. She later received 4 more patents in the U.S. and one each in Japan, Europe, and Canada.
The Laserphaco was a groundbreaking achievement, but Dr. Bath was equally concerned about the inequity in eye treatment for the Black community. She established a new field called “community ophthalmology”. This venture tries to bring lens replacement to the poor. Dr. Bath noticed while working in a Harlem eye clinic that half the patients were blind or visionally impaired. She contrasted that with the fact that at the eye clinic in Columbia there were very few patients who were blind. She conducted a study and found that Black Americans had a blindness rate that was 3.6 times higher than for white people. Glaucoma was 8 times higher.
Dr. Bath realized that the disparity was because of lack of education about eye health and lack of treatment in Black communities. Dr. Bath advocated for programs to educate Blacks on eye health and spread awareness of the causes of blindness and the need for early diagnosis and treatment. Her greatest passion was fighting blindness. She said that 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.[2] ‘The ability to restore sight is the ultimate reward,’ she said.”[3]
Dr. Patricia Bath died on May 30, 2019, in an unsuccessful struggle against cancer. She left behind a tremendous legacy for eye health in the United States and indeed the whole world. Because of her efforts thousands of people in remote communities here and around the world received care and saved their eyesight.
We can all be thankful to God that women like Dr. Patrician Bath overcame the obstacles of prejudice in our society to achieve their visions. Patricia Bath believed in herself and the work she could do to persevere in the face of the injustice. The whole world should be grateful for her courage. Racial prejudice is lessening but we have a long way to go. What wonderful things have we missed because we denied opportunities to called and gifted women, black or white?
[1] From an article in Biography, “Changing the Face of Medicine: Dr. Patricia E. Bath” at https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_26.html
[2] Keratoprosthesis is a surgical procedure where a diseased cornea is replaced with an artificial cornea. It is used today for patients whose eyes have trouble accepting donor corneal transplants.
[3] From an article in Biography, “Changing the Face of Medicine: Dr. Patricia E. Bath” at https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_26.html
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“I have no regrets. I didn’t need my eyes any longer. I had seen all there was to see.”
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