Originally from Shanghai, China, she enjoys spending free time with family and friends, and traveling locally and abroad.
ABOUT US
Our Story
Union Pharmacy exists to serve you.
The idea for Union Pharmacy began with a simple question: “What if the pharmacy was built around the patient-pharmacist relationship, and everything else supported that mission?”
We launched our first location in 2019 on Union Street in Newton Center. We liked the name Union Pharmacy because we view pharmacy as teamwork between the patient, the physician, and the pharmacy staff to help the patient be their best self.
To support our mission of serving patients with outstanding service, we thought carefully about the pharmacy layout and workflows, what products and services services to provide, how to give people the best experience possible, and how to build teams with a positive vibe that creates a great workplace.
Community pharmacy is already one of the most accessible healthcare providers, but the COVID pandemic really pushed us to find the most impactful ways we can help our communities. We donated hundreds of thousands of masks to local hospitals, provided thousands of vaccines, and offered multiple types of diagnostic tests.
We continue to ask questions and improve as we added locations to serve Newtonville (2022), Needham (2024), and Belmont (2025).
Please let us know how we’re doing and how we can serve you better.
Thank you for supporting local businesses!
Meet The Team
The Union Pharmacy team has over 100 years of combined pharmacy experience. Our mission is to partner with you and your physician to help you achieve your best self. Meet the expert pharmacists who are here to build long – term relationships with you and your family.
Dr. Xiaoyan Qin, PharmD
Founder, Registered Pharmacist
Xiaoyan (Sheeow-yen’) is excited to bring concierge pharmacy to Newton, Needham, and Belmont. After being a staff pharmacist and pharmacy manager for 14 years for a national pharmacy, she launched Union Pharmacy in 2019 to give people more choices and better service to help support their overall well-being, personal care, and access alternative and traditional medications.
For over 20 years, Dr. Qin has been a dedicated pharmacist and pharmacy manager. She received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, and is a member of APhA, M.I.P.A, NPSC.
Ripsime Guyumdzhyan, PharmD
Registered Pharmacist
Ripsime (Rip-see-may) is a compassionate licensed pharmacist with multifaceted expertise within healthcare and pharmacy settings. She is devoted to helping people receive optimal health care and excellent pharmacy services including but not limited to Medication Therapy Management with Complete Medication Reviews, Immunizations, Counseling on herbal and Natural supplements.
Dr. Guyumdzhyan earner her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
Ripsime is fluent in Russian, Armenian, and French, and enjoys spending time with family and friends on her days off.
Dr. Peter Soliman, PharmD
Registered Pharmacist
Peter enjoys the process of building trusted relationships with patients, providing people with medication and expert advice, and helping them manage or improve their health. He vividly recalls his clinical psychiatry rotation where over a couple of months, he helped many people improve their mental health through adherence to medication regiments.
Dr. Soliman joined the team in Needham after completing his Doctor of Pharmacy degree at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in 2023.
As a native of Egypt, when not helping launch the Needham location, Peter enjoys travelling and learning more about American culture and history.
Genevieve Kwok, BScPh
Registered Pharmacist
Genevieve brings nearly three decades of pharmacy expertise to work every day. For over twenty years, Gen served as a pharmacy manager in multiple locations of a national chain pharmacy in the Boston metro area, and has additional experience helping burn victims (Shriners hospital), in ophthalmology (Mass Eye and Ear Clinic), psychiatric medicine (McLean Hospital), and as a preceptor to train and mentor 3rd and 6th year pharmacy students. Gen deeply enjoys being the “neighborhood pharmacist”, always there to provide medical information and prescriptions, and lend a helping hand.
After graduating from the University of Toronto, she earned her Bachelor of Pharmacy degree from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy.
She enjoys travelling, gardening, and spending time with family or friends and her golden retriever Ellie.
Dr. Laura Vanaria, PharmD
Registered Pharmacist
Laura is passionate about building lasting patient relationships and delivering thoughtful, personalized care. With years of experience as a pharmacy manager in Norwood and Newtonville, she’s thrilled to be part of the Union Pharmacy team, where patient-centered service and whole-person wellness take priority.
Laura grew up in Wayland and earned her BA in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester. She earned her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Boston.
On her days off, you’ll find Laura exploring local farms and zoos with her family, revisiting the same places she loved as a child.
Dr. Jennie Xie, PharmD
Registered Pharmacist
After completing her pharmacy residency collaborating closely with physicians in a hospital setting to optimize patient outcomes through pharmaceutical interventions, Jenny now leads the Newtonville location. She is excited to work in a highly accessible community setting because it allows her to develop longer term relationships to help patients. Dr. Xie also currently serves as adjunct faculty at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences after completing her doctorate degree there in pharmacy.
When not in the pharmacy or teaching you’ll find her doing outdoorsy things like hiking and exploring new England, or feeding her 23-year old pet turtle Shellie.
Sossy Yogurtian, BScPh
Registered Pharmacist
Sossy brings over 30 years of pharmacy experience to lead the Belmont location. As a long-time Belmont resident, she is proud to be an accessible community healthcare provider and excited to continue her commitment to personalized care and supporting the health of Belmont residents’ health and medication needs. Her passion for pharmacy extends far beyond simply dispensing prescriptions—to truly counseling patients, answering their questions, working with their physician as needed, and ensuring they feel informed and confident about their medications, vaccines, and supplements. Sossy earned her degree in pharmacy from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, serves as the Chairman of the Armenian American Pharmacist’s Association and is actively involved in the Armenian community.
When not in the pharmacy, you’ll find her walking through her Belmont neighborhood, baking, or helping organize educational and social events.
Dr. Heather Downs, PharmD
Registered Pharmacist
Heather enjoys being a pharmacist because she gets to help people on a day-to-day basis using her knowledge of chemistry and molecular sciences. Prior to joining Union Pharmacy, for many years Dr. Downs served elderly and pediatric patients who required complex care and compliant packaging. She earned her Doctorate in Pharmacy from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in 2008.
For fun she enjoys creating original acrylic paintings and spending time with friends or her two cats.
Dr. Kelly Patel, PharmD
Registered Pharmacist
Dr. Patel enjoys the process of building relationships with patients, providing them with helpful advice and improving their overall health. She has been a registered pharmacist for three years. She earned her Doctor of Pharmacy Degree from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
In her free time, Kelly enjoys cooking, traveling, and spending time with friends and family.
Dr. Victoria Ricciardi, PharmD
Registered Pharmacist
Victoria became a pharmacist so she could help patients achieve better health. Dr. Ricciardi completed her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in 2022. She’s excited to join the Union Pharmacy Needham location where she can work closely with each patient and their doctor to provide not just outstanding service filling prescriptions but also provide vaccines, medication counseling, compliance packaging,, and other impactful pharmacy services.
Victoria grew up in Rhode Island. Currently her hobbies include exploring the Boston Area, going to concerts, painting, and reading.
