Our People: Quynh Do, Pharmacist in Charge
Tell us a little bit about yourself
I was born and raised in the Bay Area, so I’ve been in Silicon Valley for a very long time and I’ve grown up watching the area change. I went to elementary school and high school in San Jose and went to undergraduate at UC Davis. I finally ventured out a bit to Portland to go to pharmacy school. My hobbies include checking out the food scene and spending time with our pets — a kitty and a corgi. I spend most of my money on food. More so than anything else…I think even rent and shopping. Also just like Joey on Friends — I don’t like to share my food.
What do you do at Truepill?
I am the pharmacist in charge at our Hayward facility, which means I oversee our pharmacy operations at this location. My main job here is to ensure all medications leaving our facility are safe for our patients and arrive in a timely manner. The Truepill website doesn’t lie; patient safety really is our number one priority.
How did you decide to become a pharmacist?
It all started when I was at De Anza Community College. I wanted to be a civil engineer so I was taking a physics course. It proved to be just a bit difficult for me and I was struggling with the course. So while sitting in the middle of my Art History course I put a few different professions into a hat: accountant (CPA), pharmacist, and of course, a civil engineer. I picked out pharmacist. I dropped my physics course the next day and focused on biology instead. However, I still ended up needing to take physics while majoring in biochemistry at UC Davis! And that’s how I became a pharmacist. Don’t worry, I actually enjoy pharmacy. After graduation, I worked a few years at a local CVS to make sure I loved the profession before committing to graduate school.
What is it like to work in your field?
Pharmacists are constantly working with many different groups and departments so that we can get the patient what they need promptly. Not a lot of people realize this, but pharmacists are the most easily accessible health providers for patients. No appointments are needed to reach us. We are just a phone call away. You’ll often see pharmacists calling doctors trying to get approval on refills or clarifications on prescriptions. Other times, pharmacists are calling insurance companies to get special overrides to cover an otherwise expensive medication for a patient. With what’s going on in the country now, we are working with health officials to help get everyone vaccinated and protected against COVID-19. At the end of the day for pharmacists, it is very rewarding to see that we are able to help and improve patients’ health and lives.
Why did you choose to work at Truepill?
I chose Truepill three years ago because it was innovative and different from what you expect from a pharmacy. Working many years in retail pharmacy, I saw first-hand the frustration from patients. The lines were too long to pick up their prescriptions. Even dropping off a prescription required patients to stand in line. On top of that, the pharmacy team was bombarding them with phone calls on the weekends to ask them to sign up for automatic refills — none of which are really helpful for patient safety. Working at Truepill allows us to serve the patient in a more efficient manner, taking out all the unnecessary hurdles that patients need to jump over just to fill a prescription. The other big reason I chose Truepill was because of everyone else who was working here. Everyone is very passionate about their job and working here is very different from a normal day at a traditional pharmacy.
What makes working at Truepill unique?
Coming from a pharmacist background, I think it’s unique that Truepill is innovative and willing to change according to the demands and needs of our patients. Working at retail pharmacies becomes a repetitive process of the same workflow and goals year after year. AtTruepill, if you see there is an opportunity for improvement, all staff members can easily suggest changes.
What inspires you?
Everyone around me inspires me. If I see people putting in hard, dedicated work, I’m inspired to work harder myself. If they can do it, I can too.
