Dr. Bled Tanoe, PharmD
VP of Advocacy

Dr. Bled Tanoe garnered national media attention when she used her voice to highlight the poor working conditions in retail pharmacies. The campaign #PizzaIsNotWorking addressed the mental, physical, and social impact that those conditions have on pharmacists and technicians, which ultimately create a threat to patient safety.

 

Dr. Tanoe began her career in community pharmacy with a strong desire to serve her local community. She spent five years in the retail setting before she was thrust into the national spotlight. She worked to make critical and unsafe workplace issues known to everyone while she unveiled the attempts of retail employers to address the issues through food and gift cards. Soon after, the movement known as #PizzaIsNotWorking was born!

 

Her message has resonated with Pharmacy professionals nationwide and has appeared in media outlets such as USA Today, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and CBS News. Dr. Tanoe was also nominated as the “Most Influential Pharmacist” among the “50 Most Influential Leaders of 2021” by The Pharmacy Podcast Network and placed in the Top 25 in 2022 and 2023. In 2021, she received the “Women Pharmacist Award” by The Pharmacist Moms Group. In 2023, she also received the “Outstanding Young Alumni Award” from the University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy. 

 

In 2023, she was an integral part of organizing the pharmacist walkouts in several states, and her involvement helped to secure media attention around the protests. She recently co-founded The Pharmacy Guild which is a project to unionize Pharmacy professionals across the nation.

 

Dr. Tanoe currently lives in Oklahoma with her husband and two children. She is currently a Hospital Inpatient Pharmacist and continues to help raise awareness for unsafe working conditions in Pharmacy. 

 

 

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