THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT

Barbara Roberts, M.D.

“Don’t take shit from anybody.”

Cardiologist, Author and Activist. First woman to practice adult cardiology in the state of Rhode Island. Graduated from Barnard College and Case Western Reserve School of Medicine and became active in the pro-choice movement before Roe as a resident at Yale New Haven Hospital. Helped found the Women’s National Abortion Action Coalition. Staff physician at Planned Parenthood for many years.  Keynote speaker at the first national pro-choice demonstration in Washington, D.C. in November 1971. The author of How To Keep From Breaking Your Heart: What Every Woman Needs to Know About Cardiovascular Disease (Jones & Bartlett, 2004, second edition, 2009 Chinese Edition, 2008), Treating and Beating Heart Disease: A Consumer’s Guide to Cardiac Medicines (Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2009), The Truth About Statins: Risks and Alternatives to Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs (Simon & Schuster, 2012, Italian edition, La Verita Sul Colesterololo, 2013, Hebrew edition 2013, audio book 2013) and The Doctor Broad: A Mafia Love Story (Heliotrope Books 2019).

Interviewed by Judy Waxman, Oral Historian, April 2023