Jennifer Loh, MD, on taking the leap to start your own practice

Editor's note: This is an automatically generated transcript of episode 7 of the Healio/WIO Our View Video Blog series, which has been slightly edited for clarity. Please notify editor@healio.com if there are concerns regarding accuracy of the transcription.

My name is Jennifer Loh, and I'm an ophthalmologist in South Florida, but I did start my own practice about 8 years ago now, hard to believe, and that is something I'm very proud of, and I've worked very hard at. I do focus more on cataract and refractive surgery, dry eye management, but I still do see lots of comprehensive patients as well. And I very much appreciate being on your blog. So, thank you.

Thank you, Jen. We're super excited to have you. And we want to ask you, what made you passionate about practice branding in your new practice?

That's a great question. Well, I think like all of us have our own personal brand, right? We have our own personality, our own character or characteristics, even our sense of fashion, right? And how we do things. The same thing applies to our practice. And, you know, starting my practice, I realized and learned from my mentors that I had the opportunity to pick what kind of practice I wanted. And there's lots of options. Just like in business, you know, you could be a practice that functions well on high volume, a practice that functions well on technological excellence and having the latest and greatest equipment, or for example, patient or customer service, like a high touch type of practice. And none of them are wrong. But it's helpful to pick an avenue or pick a lane because that will help guide, you know, your culture. It'll help you find the right staff and cater to the right patient base. So because of that, we want to show the world who we are as individuals, it's important to show the world who our practice is.

Those are really great pearls, Jen, and I can't believe that you said it's been 8 years since you started your practice. I mean, I still remember around the time that you were starting it and the conversations that we were having, and you've always just been so positive and excited about it. And for those people in our audience who are contemplating taking that leap that you took, could you share a couple of pearls for us?

Thank you. And thanks for saying that, Priyanka. Yes, I agree. I cannot believe it's been that long. I still have to do the math every time now, and then I'm shocked. I'm like, wait. I was saying 6 years recently. I'm like, wait, no, it's eight years. I'm like, oh no! Anyway, there are so many great pearls that I've learned along the way or maybe experiences or life lessons, which may not always be positive, but you learn a lot, right? So, I think, you know, number one, kind of like we were just speaking about, picking your practice brand or picking your practice style is important. And then, you know, also invest in yourself. Find out what you know or what you don't know about business and starting a practice. We all know the medicine and surgical aspect of it, but often a lot of us don't know the business side. And that can be really overwhelming, and we can feel like we're a little bit at a disadvantage. I was fortunate to be able to take the physician CEO class the year I was starting my practice. And that was run by Guy Kazarian. And I learned so much. And not only did I learn from my practice, but it was really an investment I thought in myself just becoming a better, more educated person, well-rounded, so that was really helpful. But there's other things if you don't take that, you know, like I learned from Cynthia Matossian here on this blog that she would go to ASOA or administrator courses. And so doing something like that, everything you do will help you learn more about the rules and regulations of your practice or your business. So, I think that's important. And then the other last pearl I would say is, at least in my opinion, this is how I run my life. I wanted to think big, but I started small. So, I bit off small chunks at a time so I could stay financially viable and grow and survive.

Jen, those are really wonderful, wonderful pieces of advice. Thank you for sharing them with us. My question to you is kind of on a more personal level, but it's one that many women ophthalmologists face, and that is as a key opinion leader or not, we attend meetings, and meetings are back in vogue now. We're past the era of just virtual meetings. And you have a young son, and he's often at ophthalmology meetings with you. So, can you share with us some of the travel dynamics and the preparations you have to do in order to juggle attending the conference, being at the podium, and yet having your son with you at a meeting away from home? What do you do? What's the magic?

Well, that's a really great question. I'm lucky in the fact that since my husband's also an ophthalmologist, and he's very supportive, we had this team mentality that this is what we were going to do. So being on the same page as your partner I think is critical. Whether they come with you to meetings or not, but being on the same page and then knowing that's our goal. And I think, you know, even though it was really tough at first traveling with a baby, it was well worth it in the end because he's so good at traveling now. He knows how to do flights, that's easy. He knows all of our friends and colleagues. I was just at a meeting recently and someone actually said they missed seeing Danny because we hadn't brought him. So that's really helped. And, you know, so just getting him to know people. And I think that the other pearl is find some really great help and pay them well and treat them well. Make them like family. It helps so much fostering that relationship. I mean, our person, our nanny that comes with us on a lot of the trips, I mean, she's truly a friend now. You know, we care about each other, and she's so invaluable. So, if you can find that extra person to help you out with, yes, it costs money. But I think that, you know, we're all hard workers, working moms, career woman, and we deserve that, right? It's money well spent. And I think it's just very valuable. I'm appreciative that I can still maintain my relevance and my participation in meetings. And so, I think that's really helpful. Or maybe it's a family member, maybe you know, a family member you can count on. So whatever way you can do it, just finding that person that will help you at the meetings, including your partner.

Wonderful.

Well, Jen, thank you so much for sharing your personal story of how you manage meetings and childcare. So, with that, I'll turn it over to Femida.

Yes, thank you so much, Jen for participating in our Healio vlog on Wellness, and we look forward to seeing you at the next meeting, with Danny.

Thank you so much, guys. I really appreciate being on.

Thank you.