Patricia Era Bath

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On November 4, 1942, a small baby girl was born in Harlem, New York. She was the child of Rupert and Gladys Bath. Rupert was the first black motorman for the New York City subway system, and Gladys Bath was a housewife and domestic worker who used her salary solely to save money for her children's education. They named their child Patricia Era Bath. Bath was highly encouraged by her family to do well in school and to advance her academic career. Her father was an occasional newspaper columnist and a former Merchant Marine who taught Bath about the wonders of travel and the value of exploring new cultures all over the world. And if it wasn't for her mother buying her a chemistry set when she was young, Bath may have never become interested in the sciences in the first place. At the age of sixteen, Bath attended a workshop for cancer research that was funded by the National Science Foundation. Dr. Robert Bernard, the head of the workshop, was greatly impressed by Bath’s findings during the course of the workshop. So impressed, in fact, he included her findings into a research paper of his and presented it in a conference. Bath’s discoveries became more and more popular in the science world and even earned her the Mademoiselle magazine's …show more content…

Now showing an increased interest in the medical sciences, Bath headed to Howard University to receive a medical degree. She graduated in 1968 and accepted an internship offer at Harlem Hospital. Still not satisfied, Bath went on to continue her education at Columbia University to get a degree in ophthalmology. During her studies, Bath found some alarming news. African Americans were twice as likely to suffer from blindness and eight times more likely to develop glaucoma. This motivated her even more to begin a system which increased the amount of ocular care given to patients who were unable to afford

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