The Canadian Association of Optometry Students (CAOS) is happy to present the October 2020 Student Doctor of the Month to Cedrick Mah!
Cedrick Mah is a third year optometry student at the University of Waterloo and is the current president of CAOS for the 2020-2021 school year. He served as the Canadian Association of Optometrists (CAO) Student Representative from 2019-2020 and is currently serving as the Canadian Optometric Education Trust Fund (COETF) Student Representative. At the University of Waterloo School of Optometry, he is an Equipment Representative for the Class of 2022, acting as a liaison between various optometric equipment companies and students.
Cedrick is passionate about advocating for students and voicing our concerns to optometric stakeholders. He is able to provide the student perspective to issues that affect optometry as a whole and bring those conversations directly to the students. As the president of CAOS, Cedrick oversees all branches of the CAOS internal and external operations by leading a team of passionate students and building a community of engaged student members. This year, he helped rebrand and build a new website for CAOS to provide new membership access privileges, updated the CAOS sponsorship model to foster better relations with optometry stakeholders, created new programs for students to get directly involved with optometrists, and led public education social media campaigns to garner heightened awareness for ophthalmic care.
Cedrick graduated from the University of Alberta with a Bachelor of Science in 2016 and has extensive work experience in ophthalmology and optometry clinics. This, combined with his passion for student governance and leadership, led him to the path to optometry. His ultimate goal is to rebrand the public perception of all facets of optometry, including our scope of practice, abilities, and education. He wants to see students get involved early in order to shape the profession they will enter. In the future, he hopes to work in rural and underserved communities while serving on optometry leadership bodies. Whenever he is not being a staunch advocate for optometry students across Canada and optometry in general, Cedrick enjoys doing puzzles and going to the gym. He also enjoys hiking the Rocky Mountains that surround his beautiful hometown of Edmonton, Alberta.