Growing up, we are often taught to focus on our individual achievements. How quickly we learn to read, ride a bike, win the spelling bee, and perform on exams are often the metrics we are measured by, and we quickly learn to base success on individual performance as a result. Dr. Suzanne Soliman recognized this early on in her career as a pharmacist, and took immediate action to build and grow a community of pharmacists that focuses on celebrating victories as a group.
The group, called the Pharmacist Moms Group, or PhMG, was started on Facebook by Dr. Soliman and quickly grew to 1,000 members within a month. The group allows pharmacist mothers to share their successes, struggles, questions, and support for one another. Over time, the group has blossomed to over 33,000 members, is now formalized as a 501c3, and is the largest organization of pharmacists in the United States.
Dr. Soliman has long had a passion to help women and advance her profession of pharmacy, and she believes that pharmacists need to have increased recognition for all that they do in the healthcare system and how they take care of patients. In fact, pharmacists have been voted the most trusted healthcare professionals, and Dr. Soliman works tirelessly within her group to bring light to this and bring more recognition to the profession.
Outside of her group, she has been recognized multiple times for her work. She is a Rufus A. Lyman award recipient for publishing the best manuscript in the American Journal of Pharmacy Education, and was the recipient of the Next Generation Pharmacist Civic Leader Award in 2019.
With all of her activism outside of her profession, she’s just as passionate about helping her patients that come into her pharmacy. She is constantly trying to find ways to make medications more affordable for patients, and has even started a pharmacy discount card to offer patients the opportunity to buy their medications for more affordable prices. Oftentimes, the card is even cheaper than insurance copays.
With all of her success as both an advocate for pharmacy and as an actual pharmacist, Dr. Soliman credits all of the life choices she’s made throughout her life to shaping her into the person she is today. She values her family, mentors, husband and children greatly, and has learned through them how powerful loyalty is and how to do unto others what you would like done to you. Based on her selflessness as a pharmacist and relentless pursuit to bring recognition to her profession, Dr. Soliman certainly treats everyone she comes into contact with exactly how she would like to be treated.
