Noh Filter (Fridays with Ada Noh, OD).

Putting Personality Into Practice.

Building a second cold-start dry eye specialty clinic has made me incredibly intentional about what I’m building. I’m not interested in simply recreating the practice I had before and putting it in a new zip code. I want to take everything I’ve learned—the things that worked, the things that didn’t, and the things I wish I had done differently—and build something that feels unmistakably me.

I want this practice to be highly professional without ever feeling cold or clinical. I want patients to feel welcomed the moment they walk through the door. I want there to be warmth, personality, humor, and a little bit of spunk. I want the experience to feel thoughtful and elevated, but never stuffy. Most importantly, I want patients to feel like they are being cared for by a real person who genuinely listens to them—not just another name on a chart.

I’m also being intentional about creating a space where my personality gets to exist alongside my expertise. I’m obsessed with dry eye, and I want that enthusiasm to be contagious. I want patients to feel that we take their disease seriously while still being able to laugh, connect, and make the process feel a little less overwhelming.

Starting from scratch for a second time has given me the perspective to build with purpose rather than simply build for the sake of building. Every detail—from the clinical experience to the physical space to the way we answer the phone—is an opportunity to communicate what this practice stands for. I want to build something that is excellent and human, sophisticated and fun, evidence-based and full of personality.

Because ultimately, I don't want to build a practice that just looks successful. I want to build one that feels like me.

Emerging Leaders.

I recently had the honor of being named to Bausch + Lomb's inaugural Emerging Leaders program. I've been fortunate to have some pretty incredible opportunities early in my career, but this one feels a little different. It's a year-long program, which means the part I'm most excited about isn't necessarily being named to it. It's seeing what comes from the next year.

One of those things started almost immediately. From day one, I connected with Dr. Chandler Mann, an OD in Texas who I had crossed paths with briefly in the past but never really had the opportunity to get to know. It didn't take long for that to change, as he is one of my co-emerging leaders. There is also a mentorship component of the program bringing in some familiar optometry faces like Avani Dave, Mile Brujic, and Jade Coats to name a few. That's something I've come to appreciate about these types of programs and industry events. You might walk into the room knowing someone's name or recognizing their face from a conference, and walk out realizing you just made a new friend. I'm looking forward to seeing how that friendship develops over the next year, while also getting to know the other doctors in the program and spending more time with people in industry who I've already built relationships with.

The professional side of the program is just as exciting to me. I'm still figuring out what my place in industry looks like. I want to become a better speaker, hone my skills, find my voice, and understand where I can actually bring value rather than simply being happy to have a seat at the table. I also want to better understand what industry can do for me. I don't mean that transactionally. I mean learning how these relationships can expose me to new ideas, introduce me to people I otherwise may never meet, and give me opportunities to grow in directions I probably can't predict yet.

Between the Blinks is one of the more recent examples of me trying to figure some of that out. Ada and I started this newsletter because we wanted a place to talk about dry eye, practice ownership, industry, and everything else happening around our careers without making it feel overly polished or filtered. I think starting something like this is one small step toward establishing my own voice within the profession and industry, but I'm also very aware of how early I am in all of this. I graduated in 2023 and sometimes feel like I was off to the races almost immediately. I've had opportunities to speak, consult, sit on advisory boards, work with companies, open a practice, and now participate in a program like this. At the same time, I still have an enormous amount to learn.

I also can't talk about the opportunities I've had without acknowledging Dr. Arthur Epstein. Having Art as my mentor opened doors for me. His name carried weight, and being one of the people he spent time teaching gave me opportunities and introductions that I may not have had otherwise, especially this early in my career. I'm incredibly grateful for that, but I'm also conscious of the responsibility that comes with it. I don't want to take an opportunity for granted simply because someone I respected helped put me in a position to receive it. I want to do something with it.

That's probably what I'm looking forward to most about this next year. I don't know exactly what relationships will come from the Emerging Leaders program, which friendships will stick, or what I'll learn about where I fit within industry. I'm still early enough in my career that I don't think I'm supposed to have all of those answers yet. For now, I'm grateful to be in the room, excited to learn from the people in it, and looking forward to figuring out what kind of leader I want to become.

Have a great weekend.

Ada Noh, OD.

Andrew Zagelbaum, OD.

Special thanks to our 2026 Founding Presenting Partner, Bausch + Lomb!