Cataract Treatment Inventor, Ophthalmologist Dr. Patricia Bath Dies at 76

Cataract Treatment Inventor, Ophthalmologist Dr. Patricia Bath Dies at 76
Melvin Oatis (L) and Dr. Patricia Bath (R) attend TIME Celebrates FIRSTS in New York City on Sept. 12, 2017. Ben Gabbe/Getty Images for TIME
The Associated Press
Updated:

SAN FRANCISCO—Dr. Patricia Bath, a pioneering ophthalmologist who became the first African American female doctor to receive a medical patent after she invented a more precise treatment of cataracts, has died. She was 76.

Bath died on May 30 from complications of cancer at a University of California San Francisco medical center, her daughter, Dr. Eraka Bath, said on June 3.