Meet Our President

In 2023, Roberta lost her husband of 40 years, David, to Alzheimer’s disease. David was a psychiatrist who loved language. His disease stripped him of much of the richness in his life. He decided to take his life by voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED). Roberta and her two children struggled to prepare for VSED, hitting an impenetrable tangle of misinformation and a wall of medical rejection. David’s Advance Directive did not capture his true wishes. His Will, for which he’d paid thousands in attorney fees, ended up in probate and did not leave the legacy he intended. Read the Story

From her family’s painful journey, Roberta vowed to create a one-stop trove of resources to help people like her best prepare for the end of life. So was born Fully Informed Conversations. 

Roberta’s professional life is highlighted by international acclaim. She is a physician and former dean of a major school of public health. She is a member of the elite National Academy of Medicine and the American Society for Clinical Investigation and former president of the top two professional societies in her field. Other honors include Presidential appointment to the Mickey Leland Center for Environmental Research, Fellow of the American College of Physicians, Leadership Award from the Family Health Council, Laureate Award from the American College of Physicians, Distinguished Professor of Women’s Health from the Society for General Internal Medicine, and Athena Swan lectureship at Oxford University. She has received two of the most prestigious lifetime achievement awards in her field: the 2013 Snow Award from the American Public Health Association, and 2017 Lilienfeld Award from the American College of Epidemiology.

Now retired, in addition to her leadership at Fully Informed Conversations, Roberta devotes her time to work on behalf of women suing major pharmaceutical companies whose products have caused them to suffer or die.