Boris Wong is an exceptional third year optometry student at The University of Waterloo. He obtained his undergraduate BSc degree from Waterloo knowing that he wanted to pursue Optometry. His inspiration to become an optometrist began when he was an impressionable teenager at his hometown in Markham, Ontario.
Boris being his usual humble self, thinks he didn’t really have a big breakthrough or life changing event that inspired him to become an OD. He wishes he could say his life changed forever when he put on his first pair of glasses but that doesn’t really happen for a -2.50D myope. The single biggest factor that influenced this journey, was because of his mom. She worked at an optometry clinic and as a healthy OHIP eligible teenager with simple myopia, he would be having his yearly checkups there. He was fortunate enough to have been invited to dinner with some of her friends and ended up talking to some passionate ODs. He recalls talking for at most 5 minutes as he didn’t think he had the attention span back then. Over time however, he slowly learnt and appreciated this amazing profession for its charm for being so unique and intellectually challenging. It allows him to improve the quality of life for people in his community on a daily basis. Furthermore, it allows him to own a business, be his own boss, and still have time for hobbies, corgis, family and friends at the end of the day. Did you know that Boris used to have a pet duck?
During Boris’s free time, he enjoys cooking, traveling and taking pictures. His passion for photography and videography has led him to join the Yearbook committee in second year in which he designed the front cover. He voluntarily devotes many hours taking and edit photos at our school and club events. In addition, he is the videographer and editor behind his class’s skit night videos. What really makes Boris standout is his hardworking personality and dedication to his work despite the workload as an optometry student.
Without a doubt, he is one of the busiest students in his class. He is like an unofficial executive member at every club but also a very important one. Many of the club events and initiatives would not have been possible if it were not for his enthusiasm and eagerness to help. For instance, he has recently teamed up with CAOS to produce their latest educational video. He is the videographer, editor and co-script developer of “Can I Sleep in My Contacts?”. He decided to help make a video to address this common question and furthermore help raise awareness about contact lens safety. Feel free to view and share this video shown below:
Not very many professions have a nice balance of work and personal life, and Boris thinks where optometry is going, there is even more to look forward to. Diagnosing and managing disease with AI, exciting new drugs that dissolve cataracts and new specs that can slow down the progression of myopia are some of the few things that we are headed towards. The landscape is changing and there are more things to be excited about in the years to come. Having said that, we asked him to write about his future goals, but he thinks for now to just focus on passing boards.
“Studying for boards will be like a loading dose for a lifetime of learning.” – Boris Wong, 2019