Patricia Era Bath (November 4, 1942 – May 30, 2019) was an African American ophthalmologist, inventor, humanitarian, and academic. She was an early pioneer of laser cataract surgery. In 1981, Bath invented the surgical tool that made her famous: the Laserphaco Probe, which she continued to perfect and later patented in 1988. The tool was used during eye surgery to correct cataracts, an eye condition that clouds vision and can lead to blindness. She also became the first woman member of the Jules Stein Eye Institute, the first woman to lead a post-graduate training program in ophthalmology, and the first woman elected to the honorary staff of the UCLA Medical Center. Bath was the first African-American woman doctor to receive a patent for a medical purpose.