A Winnipeg local, Dr. Luke Small earned his Doctorate of Optometry from the University of California Berkeley School of Optometry in 2000. Dr. Small's diverse clinical internships took him from the Beijing Medical University in China to the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and LaserVue Eye Associates in Orlando, Florida.
After graduating, Dr. Small, alongside his wife, Dr. Gina Mistretta Small, OD, returned to Canada, practicing at Armstrong and Small Eyecare Centre with Dr. Rod Small until 2002. The couple then spent five years in Santa Barbara, California, where Dr. Small served as the president of the Tri-County Optometric Association and gained experience across various optometric practices.
In 2007, the Smalls returned to Winnipeg, taking over Dr. Small's father's practice, continuing almost a century of optometric service at Armstrong and Small Eye Care Center. Dr. Small, a third-generation optometrist, has been actively involved in Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity (VOSH), bringing eye care to those in need worldwide. In 2011, Dr. Small was instrumental in creating a optometric clinic within the Saul Sair Health Centre and Siloam Mission, a homeless shelter in downtown Winnipeg.
In 2012, fellow Manitoba optometrists voted Dr. Small 'Optometrist of the Year.' He earned recognition for his volunteer work with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB), Siloam Mission, and the Manitoba Association of Optometrists (MAO).
Besides his professional contributions, Dr. Small enjoys surfing (a challenge in Winnipeg!), adventure racing, soccer, hockey, and spending quality time with his children, Annika and Sebastian.
Besides his professional contributions, Dr. Small enjoys being outdoors. His outdoor adventures find him on all sorts of bikes (gravel, mountain and fat bikes) as well as a racing in endurance adventure races. He still enjoys a weekly beer-league hockey game and will get in the pool periodically having been a 4-year letterman at Texas Christian University where he medaled at the Southwest Conference Championships and participated in the 1992 Canadian Olympic Trials. Some of his biggest passions involve being an assistant coach to his son’s Oak Park High School basketball team and visiting his daughter at McGill University in Montreal.
