Dr. William Stell: A Steadfast Advocate for Retinal Research

When Dr. William Stell retired in 2020, he moved to a town outside Calgary called Okotoks. The town’s name is derived from “ohkotok,” a word meaning “rock” in the Blackfoot language. “There’s a gigantic boulder the size of a mansion sitting in a field outside the town,” says Dr. Stell (or, as he prefers to be called, Bill).

Dr. Stell is a bit like that rock himself. Steadfast and unwavering, he has been a foundational presence in his field — retinal circuitry, retinal function, and retinal degenerative diseases, as well as myopia research — for decades. His extensive career and contributions to retinal research and public engagement have provided a solid cornerstone for future research and education, influencing countless students and colleagues. And he’s still an advisor and mentor to this day.

Dr. Stell is a Professor Emeritus of Cell Biology and Anatomy at the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine, where he taught for 40 years. Before that, he was a faculty member at the prestigious UCLA Jules Stein Eye Institute for eight years. He’s a full member of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and an associate member of the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute in the Cumming School of Medicine, and serves part-time as a scientific advisor to a myopia research group in Wenzhou, China, where he resides for a couple of months each year.

Remaining steadfast in his commitment to teach and learn, he continues to mentor students in his retirement, including a promising young researcher who just finished her third-year undergraduate honours program at the University of Calgary and who’s doing high-level retinal research in a lab in Hungary for her honours thesis.

At the Wenzhou Medical University, Dr. Stell supports and advises young investigators who are doing research using animal models. “I learn as much as I teach,” he says.

Dr. Stell first got involved with Fighting Blindness Canada (FBC) — then called the Retinitis Pigmentosa Foundation of Canada—in 1989. “I was initially brought into the University of Calgary because they had a budding retinal research centre, which had been founded with funds raised from Lions Clubs,” he says. “That got me into Lions Clubs activities and I was introduced to a parallel event, the Ride for Sight, which raises money for FBC.”

Dr. Stell got involved with Ride for Sight and FBC, and the rest, as they say, is history. As its funding had recently increased, FBC invited Dr. Stell to become Chair of its Scientific Advisory Board, where he set up a grant application and review system, ensuring rigorous and transparent processes for funding allocation. This system played a crucial role in advancing cutting-edge retinal research by attracting top-tier scientists, including Dr. Ian MacDonald, and facilitating studies aimed at combating vision disorders. “FBC was unique,” says Dr. Stell. “It was the only focus in Canada for research on retinitis pigmentosa, and the only organization raising money specifically for it.”

In 2007, Dr. Stell became FBC’s Director of Scientific Programs before becoming an Expert Scientific Advisor for the organization in 2011. During this time he visited various research centres across Canada, fostering collaboration. Over the years, he has also engaged the public through the Ride for Sight events, giving speeches and presentations to raise awareness and funds for retinal research, and participated in various conferences and events.

“It’s been a pleasure and so inspiring to work with FBC,” says Dr. Stell. “It has led me to appreciate inherited forms of blindness in a way that I hadn’t before, and has introduced me to sight researchers all over Canada. It has been a great source of personal growth and gratification for me.”

Rocks are not only the silent witnesses of history but also the anchors that hold the world steady — much like Dr. Stell has done in his illustrious career and through his longtime collaboration with FBC.