Dr. Patricia E. Bath
Jaiel Omari
Kaplan University
PU120: Introduction to Public Health
Professor Christina Robinson
03/08/11
Dr. Patricia E. Bath 2
I. The world has literally been given new vision because of the invention, efforts and passion
of Dr. Patricia E. Bath for wanting people to receiving fair and balance treatment when it
comes to medical care.
II. According to history Dr. Patricia E. Bath was the first African American woman to get a
Patent for a medical device invented in 1988. Dr. Bath invented a laser that removed
cataracts.
A. Dr. Patricia E. Bath affected the 20th and 21st century with her research and her incredible
invention.
B. Dr. Patricia E. Bath worked and served in communities that were marginalized by society.
She worked and lived in Harlem, and Washington D.C. living and working in these
communities really motivated her to change what she saw was not right as far as how people
in these communities were getting treated from a medical prospective.
III. The public health endeavor Dr. Patricia E. Bath had a major role in was treating blindness in
the African American community.
A. The reason Dr. Patricia E. Bath acted for change is because she noticed while working in
poor communities mainly urban African American communities there was a high rate of
cataracts and blindness amongst the people in that community and in the more upscale
community she worked in there wasn’t that problem with blindness from cataracts.
B. She acted