News

Marking our golden anniversary this year at Waterloo's School of Optometry & Vision Science has been an exciting opportunity to look back at our history, recognize and celebrate distinguished members of our community, and look ahead to the next decade through our ongoing strategic planning exercise. Many of you celebrated with us during our combined celebration and Continuing Education (CE) event this fall. In this issue of our School Newsletter, we highlight some of the main events that we have been a part of during this exciting year.

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.

In 2017, the School of Optometry & Vision Science will celebrate our 50th Anniversary since moving to the University of Waterloo in 1967. The 50th Anniversary – Distinguished Alumni of Honour Awards will help mark this important milestone and acknowledge exceptional alumni.

In 2017, the School of Optometry and Vision Science will mark its 50th anniversary since moving to the University of Waterloo in 1967. We hope you will join us to mark this important milestone!

The University of Waterloo’s Optometry Clinic (School of Optometry and Vision Science) partnered with Plastic Plus in conjunction with the Pinball Clemens Foundation to provide vision screening and full eye examinations for over 200 children and youth at C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute in Toronto.  Other contributors included Zeiss and Innova who provided the optical equipment needed for the screenings and eye exams.  The Optometry Clinic aims to provide follow-up care for those children identified as requiring additional eye care.

The team from the University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Science and the CNIB found that near-sightedness, or myopia, increases from 6 per cent to 28.9 per cent over the age range studied. Children from the Waterloo Region and Waterloo Catholic District School Boards participated in the landmark study and overall, 17.5 per cent of them are near-sighted.

The Optometry Rack Pack fundraised over $6,400 this year.  That brings our four year total to over $40,000! The Rack Pack was again honoured with the ‘Post-Secondary Team Challenge Award’ for the institution with the most funds raised to support the cause.

New faculty: Dr. Shamrozé (Zay) Khan, new residencies, new conference and award, and American Optometric Student Association (AOSA) Trade Show

No doubt you are already using synthesized information to keep abreast of changes in optometric and ophthalmic practices, but navigating these resources, as they are constantly evolving, can be disorienting to practitioners. This article briefly outlines how review articles can help you in your evidence-based practice by knowing some of their core characteristics and how these differ among review types.