Roberta Neustadter’s passion for making medical care available to all people began more than a half century ago as a volunteer when CPMC was Franklin and Stanford hospitals. Thirty years later when she was asked to fund a pioneering program that marries ancient Eastern healing practices with Western science and medicine, she responded with an enthusiastic “Yes!” Roberta once said, “I love people and love to help them. So when the hospital asked for my help, I asked how.”

The Roberta E. Neustadter Mini Medical School in Integrative Medicine at CPMC’s Institute for Health & Healing helps thousands of patients receive education and healing services in and out of the hospital for conditions ranging from cancer to heart disease to chronic pain. Roberta’s gifts also assist patients who might be facing financial hardship and could not otherwise afford care. These multidisciplinary perspectives, practitioners and modalities, all focused on the individual, create a holistic approach to well-being.

“Roberta was a role model in the way she personally and vitally engaged in life and the practice of philanthropy,” says William Stewart, M.D., co-founder and former medical director of the IHH. “She gave in service to healing and without expectation of getting something back. And, of course, she got back abundant gratitude and inspired stories from the many she helped.”