Our Faculty and Staff

Dr. Alex F. Hynes graduated from McMaster University with his Honors Bachelor of Science in 2013. He then pursued his Doctor of Optometry from the University of Waterloo School of Optometry and Vision Science where he graduated in 2017 with Honors. He completed a residency in Ocular Disease with an Emphasis in Glaucoma in 2018 at University of Waterloo.

Following residency, Dr. Hynes worked as a part-time clinical instructor at University of Waterloo while also working at various Ophthalmology and Optometry practices in the Greater Kitchener-Waterloo area. Dr. Hynes translocated to Pikeville, Kentucky in 2020 where he was an Assistant Professor of Optometry with a mix of clinical and didactic responsibilities. His involvement as lecturer in the Glaucoma course and particularly as course director/lecturer for Ocular Anatomy and Physiology as well as Systemic Medicine for Optometrists led to him being awarded the Dean’s Award of Classroom Education in 2022. Dr Hynes gained an appreciation and affinity for rural medical optometry during his 3 years in eastern Kentucky and was privileged to help provide primary and medical glaucoma eye care to the people of Appalachia. He attained important experience performing and teaching anterior segment laser procedures, and acquired exposure to eyelid procedures.

Dr. Hynes took a sabbatical from optometric teaching to pursue a one-year clinical Fellowship in Medically Necessary Contact Lenses at University of Illinois at Chicago’s prestigious Illinois Eye ophthalmology teaching hospital in 2023-2024. He was fortunate to learn directly from esteemed ophthalmologists and attain exposure to a high volume of irregular corneas, corneal transplantation, keratoprosthesis, surgical glaucoma, cicatrizing conjunctivitis, ocular graft versus host disease and several infectious keratitis cases in clinic. In Chicago, he received contact lens mentorship from highly respected optometry faculty in a fast-paced setting full of challenging and rewarding cases.

Dr Hynes’ passion is life-long learning and sharing this knowledge to improve clinical patient care. In addition to standard licensing, he has passed additional boards examination testing from the National Board of Optometric Examiners (USA) in lasers, eyelid procedures, injections, and advanced competency in medical optometry.  Dr Hynes has authored several different peer reviewed glaucoma case series/reports including in Optometry & Vision Science, presented posters at AAO, SECO and GSLS, and contributed to the Clinical Procedures in Primary Eye Care textbook chapter on ocular health testing. He currently writes for Modern Optometry and is an active Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry. Dr Hynes is excited be a part of the NSU Optometry team as of fall 2024 and teach half of the anterior segment disease course as well as work with students in clinical settings.