By Moseley Labor
The holder of 4 patents Patricia Bath is a woman who has done a number of first for both African-Americans and women. No women prior to her has served on the staff to the Jules Stein Eye institute, headed a post-graduate training program in ophthalmology or been elected to the honorary staff at the UCLA Medical Centre.
Before her, no Black person had served as a resident of ophthalmology at New York University and no black women had ever served on staff as a surgeon at the UCLA Medical Centre. Becoming the first African American Female doctor to patent a medical invention, her most notable patent is the Laserphaco Probe, which is used to treat cataracts.
Patricia used the aid of a laser to quickly and painlessly vaporize cataracts from patient’s eyes. People who had been blind for over 30 years were able to regain their sight by using her methods. Patricia also holds patents in Japan, Canada and Europe, when asked about her greatest obstacle Patricia replied, “Sexism, racism, and relative poverty were the obstacles which I faced as a young girl growing up in Harlem.
There were no women physicians I knew of and surgery was a male-dominated profession; no high schools existed in Harlem, a predominantly black community; additionally, blacks were excluded from numerous medical schools and medical societies; and, my family did not possess the funds to send me to medical school”. (Quote from Patricia Bath’s NIM interview)
