Black History Month Feature:

February is Black History Month! This year’s theme is “Black Health and Wellness” and the Hudson College of Public Health Sovereignty, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Council is offering a three-week feature highlighting the many ways in which the Black community has contributed to healthcare!

Dr. Patricia E. Bath was born in California in 1942. She excelled at her school work in high school and began earning awards for scientific research around age 16. She went on to earn her medical degree from Howard University College of Medicine. Bath attended a fellowship at Columbia University in her field of interest: ophthalmology.

Bath was the first African American resident in ophthalmology and completed her training at New York University. After finding that African Americans had a higher prevalence in blindness that white people due to the lack of access of eye care, she created community ophthalmology to primarily serve underserved populations. Dr. Bath was the first woman to be Chairperson of an ophthalmology residency in the US. She went on to invent the groundbreaking device Laserphaco, which is used for cataract surgeries. She was appointed Honorary Medical Staff when she retired from UCLA Medical in 1993.