Dr. Olivier is Assistant Dean for Diversity and Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at
Chicago Medical School of Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science and
John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital at Cook County. She has been a volunteer at RFUMS since
1995. She received her undergraduate degree from Loyola University and her medical
degree from Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, '88. She completed
her ophthalmology residency at Columbia University at Harlem Hospital Center in
New York, and her Fellowship in Glaucoma at the Kresge Eye Institute at Wayne State
University under the direction of Dr. Dong Shin, M.D, PhD.
As Assistant Dean for Diversity, Dr. Olivier serves on the Chicago Medical School
Admissions Task Force, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee, and Alumni
Association for RFUMS. She has worked with CAHMCP's Matriculation Program to
identify under-represented minority students who are interested in health care. In
collaboration with the Student Life Department, Dr. Olivier has brought accomplished
alumni speakers to address CMS medical students and other students on campus about
pertinent topics relating to medical careers. Together with Dr. Inez Bardella, Dr. Olivier
travelled to Haiti to evaluate collaboration with CMS as part of a Global Medical Health
Care Program, and also serves on the Travel and Project Scholarships Committee. Dr.
Olivier's other activities as Assistant Dean for Diversity include participating in the
Match Day Event, counseling unmatched, under-represented minority students,
addressing issues to help increase student diversity, inclusion and retention, as well as
assisting in identifying minority candidates for faculty. She is the Principle Investigator
for an NIH grant which mentors and exposes medical students, residents and fellows to
the world of vision research through the Rabb Venable Excellence in Ophthalmology
program. Under-represented minorities are encouraged to submit their abstracts and
present at the annual meeting of the National Medical Association.
Dr. Olivier is a member-at-large of the Board of Trustees of the American Academy of
Ophthalmology and President of Women in Ophthalmology. She also serves on the
Women in Eye and Vision Research Committee of the Association for Research in
Vision and Ophthalmology. She has served on the Advisory Council of the National Eye
Institute, the Women's Task Force and Women and Diversity Committee at the
Association for Vision and Research in Ophthalmology, and is an AAO delegate to the
American Medical Association. Since 2004, she has been a member of the steering
committee for AMA's Commission to End Health Care Disparities, where she is
currently vice-president. Dr. Olivier served on the board for Prevent Blindness America.
She is past president of the Chicago Chapter for the Haitian Physician's Association
(AMHE) and the Midwest Association of Haitian American Women, which she founded
in Chicago. She is also a board member of the DuSable Museum of African American
History. In addition, she is past president of the Chicago Glaucoma Society and is an
active member of the American Glaucoma Society.
A veteran of frequent medical missions to Haiti beginning in 1993, Dr. Olivier was a key
member of the Task Force on Haiti Recovery following Haiti's earthquake of 2010. Her
work takes Dr. Olivier all over the world. She presented on the AAO/PAAO Task Force
for Haiti Recovery and Organizational Collaboration at the World Glaucoma Conference
in Berlin. She presented at the Columbian Ophthalmological Society Glaucoma
Symposium in Cartagena, Colombia.
Dr. Olivier's work has been widely recognized with honors such as the American
Glaucoma Society Humanitarian Award, the Roman-Barnes Award, the American
Academy of Ophthalmology's Secretariat Award, the American Medical Association's
Dr. Nathan Davis Award in International Medicine, the Pan-American Congress of
Ophthalmology's Benjamin F. Boyd Humanitarian Award, and Prevent Blindness
America's Person of Vision Award.
Dr. Olivier has published in major peer-reviewed journals and is one of the co-authors
for the Glaucoma section in Clinical Eye Atlas. She is one of three editors of the book
Maintaining the Target Intraocular Pressure: African American Glaucoma Specialists.
She is frequently called upon by the media to address the topics of general eye health,
glaucoma and efforts to end healthcare disparities.