What is a residency?
Optometric residencies are one-year, post-graduate, experiential training programs that advance patient care skills beyond entry-level practice. Residents provide supervised clinical eye and vision care services and experience a mix of learning methods including self-directed learning, seminar, workshop and conference participation, laboratory and clinical teaching, and scholarship activities. For more general information about residencies, please see the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO) residency information web page.
Our Residency Mission Statement
To provide graduate optometrists with a program of concentrated mentored clinical experience and education designed to produce practitioners with advanced knowledge, skill and judgment in a selected area(s) of optometric practice. This will enable them to deliver advanced clinical care, practice life-long learning, and educate members of the profession.
Background
The University of Waterloo's School of Optometry and Vision Science has offered clinical residency programs for more than 40 years. Please see below for a list of residencies that are currently accredited by the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education (accredit@theacoe.org) and others that are not accredited.
Our residencies are designed to extend and refine the optometrist’s knowledge and skill in specific areas of clinical practice. Skills will be enhanced primarily through clinical training and enriched by seminars, clinical research, and teaching. The emphasis of our residencies is on clinical training; nevertheless, residents are encouraged to engage in scholarly activity and will be required to participate in the clinical education of optometry students.
Residencies for 2025-2026
All residencies run from August 1, 2025 to August 31, 2026.
Note: For residencies that are fully or partly located at the School of Optometry & Vision Science, clinical work will primarily take place at the interim clinic location, 419 Phillip St., Waterloo, while the Waterloo Eye Institute, our expanded and renovated clinic and research space, is under construction. The interim location, which will be open between October 21, 2024, and fall 2026, will offer the same equipment and services currently offered at 200 Columbia St. W.
Accredited Residencies
- Dr. Gina Sorbara Cornea and Contact Lens Residency
- Vision Rehabilitation (Emphasis on Low Vision Rehabilitation)
- Ocular Disease (Emphasis on Glaucoma)
- Pediatric Optometry (Emphasis on Vision Therapy and Vision Rehabilitation)