After completing her residency at New York University, Bath began a corneal fellowship program at
Columbia University, which focused on
corneal transplantation and
keratoprosthesis surgery (1973 to 1974). While a fellow, she was recruited by both the
UCLA Jules Stein Eye Institute and
Charles R. Drew University to co-found an ophthalmology residency program at
Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital. She then began her career in Los Angeles, becoming the first woman ophthalmologist on the faculty at the
Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA. When asked who her mentor was, Bath responded that her relationship with family physician Cecil Marquez inspired her to pursue this specific career. In 1983, Bath was appointed Chair of the KING-DREW-UCLA Ophthalmology Residency Program, becoming the first woman in the US to head an ophthalmology residency program. In 1986, Bath elected to take a
sabbatical from clinical and administrative responsibilities and concentrate on research. She resigned her position as chair of ophthalmology and followed her research pursuits as visiting professor at centers of excellence in
France,
England, and
Germany. In France, she served as a visiting professor at the Rothschild Eye Institute of Paris with Director
Daniele Aron-Rosa. In England, she served as a visiting professor with Professor David C. Emmony at the
Loughborough University of Technology. In Germany, she served as a visiting professor at the
Free University of Berlin and the laser medical center. In 1993, Bath retired from UCLA, which subsequently elected her the first woman on its honorary staff. Bath lectured internationally and authored over 100 papers. Bath also found that African American people had an eight times higher prevalence of
glaucoma as a cause of blindness. Based on her research, Bath pioneered the discipline of
community ophthalmology in 1976. After observing epidemic rates of preventable blindness among underserved
populations in urban areas in the US as well as underserved populations in Third World countries. Community ophthalmology was described as a new discipline in medicine that promotes eye health and blindness prevention through programs using methodologies from
public health,
community medicine, and
ophthalmology to bring necessary eye care to underserved populations. Bath claimed her "personal best moment" was while she was in North Africa and, using
keratoprosthesis, was able to restore the sight of a woman who been blind for over 30 years. With AIPB, Bath traveled to
Tanzania in 2005, where cataracts were the main cause of childhood blindness. In Africa, AIPB provided computers and other digital resources for visually impaired students, specifically at the Mwereni School for the Blind in Tanzania and St. Oda School for the Visually Impaired in Kenya. In April 2019, Bath testified in a hearing called the "Trailblazers and Lost Einsteins: Women Inventors and the Future of American Innovation" at the
Senate Office Building in Washington D.C. Bath discussed gender disparities in the
STEM and lack of female inventors.
Inventions In 1986, Bath conducted research in the laboratory of
Danièle Aron-Rosa, a pioneer researcher in lasers and ophthalmology at Rothschild Eye Institute of Paris, and then at the Laser Medical Center in Berlin, where she was able to begin early studies in laser
cataract surgery, including her first experiment with
excimer laser photoablation using human eye bank eyes. and developed the laser phaco probe, a medical device that improves on the use of lasers to remove cataracts, and "for ablating and removing cataract lenses". Bath first had the idea for this type of device in 1981, but did not apply for a patent until several years later. The device was completed in 1986 after Bath conducted research on lasers in
Berlin and patented in 1988, making her the first African-American woman to receive a patent for a medical purpose. Three of Bath's five patents relate to the Laserphaco Probe. In 2000, she was granted a patent for a method for using pulsed
ultrasound to remove cataracts, and in 2003 a patent for combining laser and ultrasound to remove cataracts.
List of U.S. patents • U.S. patent 4744360, "Apparatus for ablating and removing cataract lenses", issued May 17, 1988 • U.S. patent 5843071, "Method and apparatus for ablating and removing cataract lenses" issued December 1, 1998 • U.S. patent 5919186, "Laser apparatus for surgery of cataractous lenses", issued July 6, 1999. • U.S. patent 6083192, "Pulsed ultrasound method for fragmenting/emulsifying and removing cataractous lenses, issued July 4, 2000. • U.S. patent 6544254, "Combination ultrasound and laser method and apparatus for removing cataract lenses", issued April 8, 2003. ==Honors and awards==