News

We hope you’ll be able to join us for this annual event, presented in collaboration with the Ontario Association of Optometrists. It will feature lectures by the 2023 Bobier and Woodruff Distinguished Lecture award honourees, Dr. Trefford Simpson and Dr. Chi-ho To. This year’s event theme is therapeutic prescribing agents. 

Josh Smith (OD ’13) went from being worried he'd be the oldest student at the School of Optometry & Vision Science to being class president and winning the Coreal Cup. Catch up with what's he's been doing in the decade since as an Eastern Ontario-based clinician, leader, volunteer and donor.

With a background in physics and vision science, Dr. Jennifer Hunter has developed a non-invasive way of looking at cell layers in the retina to measure biomarkers of disease. Her goal is to apply her research to patients in the early stages of disease and prevent vision loss.

It felt at first like a moonshot, but after years of planning, two leadership gifts are helping us make the Waterloo Eye Institute a reality. Contributions totaling $8.5 million from vision care providers FYidoctors and IRIS have helped us raise enough funds to put shovels in the ground in 2024.

With plenty going on at the start of a new academic year, Director Stan Woo shares his thoughts on developments for the Waterloo Eye Institute, research and continuing education highlights, and how you can help the School of Optometry & Vision Science pull off a hat trick on Giving Tuesday 2023.

Canada’s student chapter of Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity (VOSH) have cautiously begun organizing eye care clinics following the pandemic, and there are exciting new directions in the works as they seek to provide more sustainable support to remote communities around the world.

After meeting in their first year at the school of Optometry, Drs Michelle Georgi and Scott Mundle would dedicate their lives to not only each other, but to the field of Optometry. From graduating in 1983 and moving to British Columbia to start practices, to traveling to Northern Manitoba to provide care to remote Indigenous communities. Find out more in this article about the journey Michelle and Scott have been on since they first met all those years ago. 

The aviation industry presents a vastly complicated set of problems, with many requiring solutions that delve into multiple disciplines at once. The new Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Aeronautics (WISA) aims to help solve these problems with its interdisciplinary approach. Dr Elizabeth Irving, a professor from The School of Optometry and Vision Science has recently joined the team to represent the human aspects of aviation sustainability, with a primary focus on the shortage of pilots as well as the quality of their training.

The yearly Corneal Cup has been won once again! The Unicorneas, on a dominant run during this year’s annual optometry hockey tournament, edged out a victory against the Trisceleratops in the finals of the tournament.

Director Stan Woo highlights the historic deal reached by the OHIP negotiation committee to allow for the final design and construction tender for the Waterloo Eye Institute. Along with more highlights, click here to view the Director’s full message.