The University of Waterloo School of Optometry and Vision Science has named Dr. Ben Thompson as the new director to replace Dr. Stanley Woo once he finishes his second term on June 30, 2025.

Thompson, a much-awarded researcher, has been a professor at the School since 2014 and is also CEO and scientific director at the Centre for Eye and Vision Research (CEVR). He was part of the team that co-wrote the School’s 2024–2029 Strategic Plan and is committed to further advancing its goals and continuing the School’s strong partnership with the optometric profession.

As he moves into the directorship, Thompson is particularly eager to increase the School’s research impact.

“My primary interest is in how we can make things better for the world,” Thompson said. “How can we help people see better and how can we take that knowledge and translate it to other areas of health? The University of Waterloo School of Optometry and Vision Science is perfectly positioned to connect people in different domains and make real impact.”

“Ben is an incredible leader and team builder,” Woo said. “His understanding, respect and appreciation for the contemporary practice of optometry, matched with his talent as an amazing researcher, will enable the school to reach new heights as a national resource for the public and profession.”

From heavy metal drummer to research superstar

Thompson grew up in rural England and worked at the local village supermarket as a teenager. There, his interest in visual perception was ignited by his own poor colour vision, which made it difficult to distinguish between different types of fruit – or even pieces of his uniform.

At the time, though, his first passion was music, specifically heavy metal drumming. When he was in high school, his band was offered a record deal, but the members decided to go to university instead. When he was studying psychology at the University of Sussex, the new band he was in won an MTV competition. This time, his bandmates hit the road as professional musicians. Thompson, however, chose to focus on science – though he still drums for fun, including occasionally with the Lost Faculties, the School’s faculty band.

Thompson went to Los Angeles to pursue a postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA, where he had a chance to learn brain imaging and modulation techniques. He went on to a second postdoctoral fellowship, this time at McGill University’s Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. There, he applied the neuroscientific techniques he’d learned to people with amblyopia, where the brain relies on information just from one eye.

It had long been assumed that amblyopia could only be treated in childhood, because the brain becomes less plastic as it ages. However, in a breakthrough, Thompson showed that by using non-invasive brain stimulation, it was possible to improve vision in adults with amblyopia.

In 2008, Thompson joined the faculty at the University of Auckland School of Optometry and Vision Science. There, he got involved with an interdisciplinary team doing world-renowned research on nutrition for babies born preterm – in Thompson’s case, examining the effects on vision.

Thompson continues to be affiliated with the University of Auckland (as well as McGill University) and is still involved in this vein of research. In 2022, he was named a winner of New Zealand’s Te Pūiaki Putaiao Matua a Te Pirimia Science Prize, the country’s top award for scientific discoveries that have had significant impact around the world.

Since moving to Waterloo in 2014, Thompson has received numerous grants for varied research projects, won an Excellence in Science Research Award in 2021 and  was named a University Research Chair in 2022. A paper of his was recently named among the most impactful ever published in Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics.

By embracing interdisciplinary research, Thompson has worked with optometrists, engineers, physicists, game designers, aviation experts and others on projects such as creating a social robot to help kids with amblyopia, using quantum light beams to detect early-stage macular degeneration, using video games in amblyopia treatment, enhancing pilot performance and more.

Formerly associate director of research for the School, Thompson is now president of the International Society for Low Vision Research and Rehabilitation and special advisor to the University of Waterloo vice-president, research and international.

Leadership in bringing research to life

In 2020, Thompson and his family moved to Hong Kong to establish the Centre for Eye and Vision Research (CEVR), a research collaboration between The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and the University of Waterloo, funded by the InnoHK initiative of the Hong Kong government.

When he arrived, the Covid-19 pandemic was unfolding, CEVR was an empty building and PolyU and UWaterloo’s clinicians and vision scientists were unable to travel. Despite the challenges, Thompson helped establish a shared vision and effective ways of working together.

“You don’t know what you don’t know until suddenly you’ve got it wrong,” said Thompson. “We made mistakes I learned from, but overall, we have been successful, I think because we did it all together as a team.”

CEVR launched in 2021 and quickly saw success in its mission to carry out international, interdisciplinary ocular research and commercialization. Multiple spinout companies have been established from CEVR research, some of which have won awards at international invention fairs in Asia and Europe.

Thompson is now based in Waterloo but continues to lead the centre remotely and through regular travel.

Vision for the School

Thompson sees his role largely as supporting the School’s work on the goals outlined in its strategic plan by providing faculty and staff with the support, resources and empowerment they need to lead in their areas. He credits Woo for setting the School on an ambitious course and achieving multiple “moonshot” goals over his two terms as director.

Construction is underway on the Waterloo Eye Institute – a once-in-a-generation renovation and expansion that will bring patient care, education and research to a new level. Partnerships have been developed across the country to increase access to eye care, particularly for Indigenous people, remote and rural communities, and underserved people in urban areas. Through relationships with optometric associations across Canada, the School has strengthened its role as a national resource and partner in advocacy for the profession.

One focus for Thompson will be to secure more research funding and grow the graduate program. He sees the School, with its clinical excellence and patient care services, as a natural hub for the University’s increasing focus on health research. By working with the other faculties, the new regional hospital, Innovation Arena and others, he’d like to accelerate health entrepreneurship and the clinical application of research.

One new goal he’s working on with multiple partners is to bring MRI capacity to the Waterloo Eye Institute, which would provide an impetus for interdisciplinary, collaborative health research.

“Stan has been transformative as director,” Thompson said. “He has aligned the School and the profession, raised the profile of the School significantly and initiated the strategic planning that has given us a shared direction and vision. It’s a bit intimidating stepping into his shoes, but he has given me a lot of mentoring and we have a closely aligned view of what we can achieve for the optometric profession and for science and health in Canada.”

Source: University of Waterloo Optometry and Vision Science

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