Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro issued the following announcement on February 4.
In honor of #BlackHistoryMonth we are spotlighting Black inventors. This week's inventor is renowned ophthalmologist Dr. Patricia Era Bath. Born in Harlem, NY in 1942, Dr. Bath earned a grant from the National Science Foundation in high school, graduated from Hunter College with a B.S. in chemistry, and received her M.D. from Howard University Medical School.
While interning at Harlem Hospital and Columbia University, Dr. Bath noticed that Black patients were much more likely to be blind than white patients. She determined that a lack of eye screenings in Black communities was leading to high rates of cataracts, glaucoma, and other serious conditions. To address this issue, Dr. Bath started a program to train volunteers to perform eye screenings for under-served populations.
After accepting a position at UCLA Medical Center, Dr. Bath faced considerable racism and sexism. Her office, for instance, was relegated to the basement, next to the lab animals. Despite this, Dr. Bath went on to develop the Laserphaco Probe, a device for cataracts surgery. Her new technique would restore the vision of thousands of patients. In 1993 Dr. Bath retired from UCLA Medical Center and in 2001 she was inducted into the International Women in Medicine Hall of Fame. She passed away in San Francisco, CA in 2019.
Original source can be found here.
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