Patricia Era Bath (1942 - 2019)

Born 4 Nov 1942 in Harlem, New York City, New York, USA

Ancestors

Died 30 May 2019 at age 76 in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA

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Biography

Patricia Bath is Notable.

Patricia Era Bath was an ophthalmologist, inventor, humanitarian, and academic who was an early pioneer of laser surgery for cataracts. ^[1]

She was born on November 4, 1942.^[2] in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. Her father was Rupert Bath, was an immigrant from Trinidad who had been a Merchant Marine and was the first Black motorman for the New York City subway system. Her mother, Gladys Bath, was a housewife and domestic worker who used her income to save money for her children's education and encouraged young Patricia's interest in science by buying her a chemistry set.^[3][4]

Patricia completed Charles Evans Hughes High School in only two years and went on to attend Hunter College, where she earned a bachelor's degree in 1964. Following college she enrolled in medical school at Howard University, where she graduated with honors in 1968 and started an internship at Harlem Hospital. The following year, she also began pursuing a fellowship in ophthalmology at Columbia University, where she observed that African Americans were twice as likely to suffer from blindness and eight times more likely to develop glaucoma than other patients she attended. Her research led to her develop a community ophthalmology system to improve the availability of eye care to people could not afford treatment. In 1973, she became the first African American to complete a residency in ophthalmology. In 1974 she became an assistant professor of surgery at Charles R. Drew University and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and in 1975, she became the first female faculty member in the Department of Ophthalmology at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA.^[3][4]

In the 1980s Dr. Patricia Bath began working on improve laser surgery technology for category treatment, leading in 1986 to her invention of the Laserphaco Probe. Her 1988 patent for this invention made her the first African American woman in the United States of America to receive a medical patent.^[3][4]

Dr. Bath died in San Francisco, California, on May 30, 2019. Her survivors included a daughter.^[4] She is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia: Patricia_Bath
2. ↑ New York City Birth Index, 1942. Entry for Patricia E. Bath, born in Manhattan on 4 November. New York City Department of Health, courtesy of www.vitalsearch-worldwide.com. Digital Images. Accessed on Ancestry.com at https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/61457/images/47769_b353827-00040
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Patricia Bath (1942–2019), Biography.com (A&E Television Networks). Originally published 2 April 2014, updated 7 January 2021.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} Genzlinger, Neil. Dr. Patricia Bath, 76, Who Took On Blindness and Earned a Patent, Dies. The New York Times, 4 June 2019.
5. ↑ Memorial: Find a Grave (has image)
   Find A Grave: Memorial #243628125
   Memorial page for Dr Patricia Era Bath (4 Nov 1942-30 May 2019), citing Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, Los Angeles County, California, USA; Maintained by Heather Gordon (contributor 49534960).

See also:

• Wikidata: Item Q7145460, en:Wikipedia
• Biography