Alumni Awards of Honour

Since graduating from optometry school in 2017, Dr Monica Bell has been an active leader, educator, and advocate within the optometric community locally, nationally, and internationally.

In Calgary, Monica has served the Calgary Society of Optometrists in multiple leadership roles—first as Treasurer, then President, and now Past President—helping guide professional development initiatives and strengthen relationships between local optometrists and ophthalmologists. At the provincial level, Monica has been a dedicated Council Member of the Alberta Association of Optometrists (AAO) for the past five years and has chaired the AAO Continuing Education Committee for four years, overseeing high-quality educational programming for optometrists and optometric staff.

Committed to service and global eyecare development, Monica has volunteered extensively through vision-screening programs with the Special Olympics, local outreach at shelters in Calgary, and numerous international vision clinics in countries such as Mexico, Jamaica, Romania, Thailand, Rwanda, Senegal, Madagascar, and the Philippines. Her global work includes performing eye exams and providing eyeglasses, supporting sustainable eyecare projects through training of local doctors and establishing clinics in underserved regions, and leading teams of Waterloo School of Optometry students. She works to provide better access to eyecare within Canada as a travel optometrist to remote areas of Nunavut.

Monica also contributes to the advancement of the profession through exam administration as a proctor for the national optometry board examinations and through advocacy efforts via social media campaigns, the Government Relations Committee, and various interprofessional events.

Her clinical and academic contributions include publishing a grand rounds paper in the journal of Optometry & Visual Performance and delivering presentations on refractive surgery during her tenure at a refractive surgery centre.

Through leadership, education, advocacy, and hands-on global service, Monica continues to champion excellence, accessibility, and innovation in optometric care.

Dr. Jessica Steen is an Associate Professor at Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry where she serves as Director of the Glaucoma Service and as an attending optometric physician at the College’s Eye Care Institute. Dr. Steen teaches the courses in glaucoma and ocular pharmacology at NSU. Dr. Steen also serves as the Primary Care with Emphasis in Ocular Disease Residency Coordinator. Dr. Steen graduated from the University of Waterloo School of Optometry and Vision Science and completed her residency in Primary Care with Emphasis in Ocular Disease at Nova Southeastern University. Dr. Steen’s main clinical interests include glaucoma, retinal disease, neuro-ophthalmic disease with an emphasis in medical and surgical management. Dr. Steen’s research interests are centered on artificial intelligence applications in the management of glaucoma. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry, a Diplomate of the American Board of Optometry, member of the Optometric Glaucoma Society, and the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, and is Past President of the Palm Beach County Optometric Association.

Dr. Sheldon Pothier was born in Pembroke, Ontario and raised in Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia. He earned a BSc in Science from the University of Waterloo in 1982 and graduated from the School of Optometry and Visual Science in 1986. He then moved to Wolfville, Nova Scotia, where he partnered with Dr. Tim Winslade (ret.).

He was elected to the Council of the Nova Scotia Association of Optometrists (NSAO) in 1987 and served as President from 1993–1995. During his presidency, he helped establish the “Blue Print” committee, which advanced collaborative care between optometry and ophthalmology in Nova Scotia. In 2014, he received the inaugural NSAO Legacy Award for his contributions.

After his NSAO Board service, Dr. Pothier became Chair of the NSAO Board of Examiners and, in 2005, the first Chair of the Nova Scotia College of Optometrists (NSCO). He has served as NSCO Registrar from 2006–2014 and again from 2017 to the present. He is a past Chair of CORA, the NSCO representative to FORAC, and a former OEBC Board member.

Dr. Pothier is also a founding member of FYidoctors and has served on its Advisory Board.

He continues to practice in Wolfville in a group clinic that now includes his daughter, Dr. Lillian Pothier.