
Nikki Hafezi: There has been a paradigm shift in the mentality of young ophthalmologists in recent years. When Farhad was a young resident, he aspired to climb the traditional academic ladder. He obtained his MD/PhD, garnered fellowships, became a really good clinician and, with time, he was appointed chairman of a university clinic. Any ophthalmologist of his age group would agree that Farhad has achieved what many hope to in their professional careers. Nowadays, his students and residents have different aspirations. There’s more focus on work-life balance and on quality of life. While dreams of climbing the ladder are still present, the “new” generation have other criteria in their career development plans: innovation, economics and entrepreneurship. We know that income influences almost everyone’s life, but it’s not necessarily the most important factor anymore; people want a blend of quality of life, entrepreneurship, creativity, research, and clinics. They want it all, basically. Providing that will form the foundation of the ELZA Institute, which is on course to open in April.
The planning process
NH: We wanted to treat the future institute not as a private practice relying on a specific doctor, but as a business venture. The first consideration when building ELZA was its location in Zürich. Instead of having a private practice in the middle of the city center, we chose to go where patient demand would be the greatest. The northwest region of Zürich has a relatively low ratio of ophthalmologists to patients, and considering the building and expansion plans of the region, the population and industry are booming, that is where we decided to set up our first site. Farhad Hafezi: Our second consideration was that we needed to focus on our social media and Internet presence. We know our patients are really plugged in. They read, research, talk to each other – and all of that communication is on the Internet. So we put a lot of effort and investment into our online presence to attract patients and build our referral network.NH: We also needed to reserve time for good and valuable research. Why? We have a term, 4P, which stands for “podium power and peer-reviewed publications.” We believe that 4P is just as important for sales as sponsorship or direct marketing efforts, especially in the medical field. Farhad, for instance, publishes good data; people read about him; he’s onstage at congresses speaking about his research and clinical experience. So he’s an opinion maker, and at the same time, he’s building research collaborations, increasing his referral network, and becoming more appealing to industry, which could be fruitful in terms of funding and collaborations. 4P relates to ELZA in that it will support research collaborations with other opinion makers in the field, indirectly support a referral network, and provide opportunities with industry, like directed research projects. The most important element of the business plan is human resources. Identifying, recruiting and retaining the “right” employees are the most challenging tasks for any company. So what is ELZA’s unique selling point to potential employees or collaborators? How can we attract the best and the brightest people? With much thought, we decided we want to offer the work-life balance that younger generations say they want – flexibility, competitive income, academic opportunities, creativity and a career future. This increases our chances of recruiting and retaining ambitious young ophthalmologists. And because these ophthalmologists want to balance the benefits of a private setting with the advantages of academia, we will provide lab space and research opportunities. In a nutshell, ELZA will offer them a clear career future so that they can better envision staying with us on a long-term basis.