News

The first Canadian interdisciplinary weekend vision rehabilitation conference was held at the School of Optometry and Vision Science in March 2017. By all accounts it was very successful and truly did live up to the name of being interdisciplinary. There were a total of 149 registrants including attendees who identified themselves as optometrists, ophthalmologists, opticians,  orientation and mobility instructors, occupational therapists, independent living specialists (from CNIB), high tech assessors, itinerant vision resources teachers/special education consultants, CNIB national and provincial managers, counsellors, students, and University faculty members/researchers. Attendees came from almost every province across Canada and even internationally, including optometrists from the US and Hong Kong.

The School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of Waterloo is pleased to present our annual continuing education program on September 22, 23 and 24, 2017, in conjunction with the School’s 50th anniversary celebration.

Don’t miss an introduction to our new Director, Dr. Stanley Woo, who arrives in July. Find also an update on the School’s current strategic planning process, and a follow-up to the first Canadian Interdisciplinary Vision Rehabilitation Conference, which was held here in March. And finally, Bill Bobier and Barb Robinson have retired this year, with a combined total of 68 years of service to the School!

Since 2011, Dr. Patricia Hrynchak, a Clinical Professor in the School of Optometry and a recipient of that School’s 2016 Distinguished Teaching Award, has been a practitioner of a teaching method known as Team-Based Learning (TBL). Developed by Larry Michaelson for teaching business students in the 1990s, TBL is an active-learning strategy that Hrynchak describes as learner-centered but instructor-led. TBL promotes deep learning, while at the same time fostering both individual and group accountability.

The Sports Vision Club (SVC), one of the newer student groups at the University of Waterloo (UW), was established in 2014 to expose optometry students to the exciting field of sports vision and provide them with experience in working with unique athlete populations. Our club aims to educate students on how they can incorporate sports vision into their own optometric practices after graduation. Since our club’s inception, SVC executives have collaborated with Dr. Kristine Dalton to organize vision screening events and seminars throughout the school year.

Have you ever wondered why some people can swim for hours in a cold lake while others don’t last a minute? Everyone has a different tolerance for cold water, in much the same way that everyone processes pain differently. While an optometrist, Emmanuel Alabi, now a doctoral candidate in Waterloo’s School of Optometry and Vision Science, noticed it’s hard to predict how patients will handle the discomfort of routine medical procedures. That’s why he’s researching how the eye can be used as an objective measure of pain.

RxTx, formerly known as eCPS, is the most comprehensive Canadian solution to drug information and therapeutics. Many alumni and CAO members already take advantage of access to RxTx provided by the Witer Learning Resource Centre at the School of Optometry and Vision Science. For Alumni and CAO member access to RxTx contact: wlrc@uwaterloo.ca

The School of Optometry & Vision Science is fortunate to have a tremendous complement of exceptional students, faculty, staff and alumni whose efforts are regularly recognized by colleagues and the profession. The Academy is no different and there were many who were acknowledged during the American Academy of Optometry in Anaheim, CA in November. 

On March 28, 2016, 91 first year uWaterloo optometry students attended their first annual interprofessional education (IPE) day. Joining them were students from uWaterloo pharmacy and Western University medicine and dentistry, as well as students in physiotherapy and speech language pathology.