Advisory Board Member
Dr. Cheryl Letheren is an Advisory Board Member of the Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation Association (NORA), an inter-disciplinary group of professionals dedicated to providing patients who have physical or cognitive disabilities as a result of an acquired brain injury with a complete ocular health evaluation and optimum visual rehabilitation education and services to improve their quality of life.
Dr Letheren graduated from the University of Western Ontario in 1987 with a degree in physiology and then went to Optometry school at the University of Waterloo. After completing some clinical training at a hospital connected to Salus University in Pennsylvania, she graduated with her Optometry degree in 1991. She immediately started practicing in London, Ontario where she took over a practice of a retiring OD. She became a Fellow of the American Academy in 1996. Since COVID, she has also completed the Clinical Investigator Certificate in 2021, and the Flom Leadership Program in 2022. Dr. Letheren was one of the first Canadian Optometric Coordinators for TLC Laser Centres from 1995-2000.
Dr. Letheren has had more than 20 years of experience with visual rehabilitation. She helped to form the first multi-disciplinary team to assess and treat brain injury patients in a hospital setting in Canada. Cheryl has been on staff at Parkwood Hospital, a rehabilitation facility, for the last 18 years, seeing acute in-patient and out-patient brain injury, complex care and stroke patients. She also acts as a consultant for adult concussion patients. In her private office, Dr. Letheren does consults for patients with chronic conditions, motor vehicle injuries, head injuries, developmental conditions, learning disabilities and concussions in adult and children.
Together, with her highly qualified vision therapist, who is an internationally trained Optometrist herself, Dr. Letheren provides assessment and treatment for binocular vision problems, strabismus, amblyopia, learning difficulties, autism and sports vision, as well as concussions and head injury. In her regular practice, Dr. Letheren has a full scope Optometry office with specialty contact lenses, myopia control and co-management of ocular disease, especially diabetes. Dr. Letheren has spoken Internationally and is currently finishing two Fellowship programs, a Psychology degree at Western and recently completed the Vision Therapy Canada, Practical Vision therapist program. She also completed her Optometric Extension Plan Curriculum in 2014.
She has been a board member for the Ontario Association of Optometrists in 1996-1998 and has served on numerous committees for the OAO, including the Insurance Committee at the present time. Dr. Letheren has also served on committees for VTC, the Canadian Board of Examiners and local volunteer organizations. She continues to serve as a mentor to Optometry students.