After joining the Harvard faculty in 1969, Professor Roberts taught economics, statistics, ethics, management, environmental policy and health policy in the Economics Department, the Kennedy School, the Law School and, for 30 years, at the School of Public Health. He played a leading role in the World Bank's training efforts on health sector reform around the world, having taught courses and seminars for senior government leaders in nearly thirty countries, and on every continent except Antarctica. The author or coauthor of five books and numerous professional articles, Professor Roberts' most recent effort, together with three coauthors from the Harvard School of Public Health faculty, was a handbook on health sector reform, Getting Health Reform Right (Oxford University Press).

Professor Roberts was an active consultant helping organizations adjust to changing market conditions. He was also a co-leader of the School of Public Health initiative on the role of trust in the health care system and how managers can build trust to reinforce their market position. Later work included a coauthored piece on the need for international organizations to move beyond a vertical program focus to a focus on health systems reform (Lancet); and, for the Hastings Center, a piece on Bioethics (with Norman Daniels) on the ethics of health reform proposals in the U.S. He was also working on books on the ethics of disaster management and on the ethics of pricing biotech drugs.

Professor Roberts held appointments in the Kennedy School and School of Public Health, where he taught the required ethics course. He taught public management, quantitative policy analysis, environmental economics, and health economics. Publications include The Search for Safety and EPA: Asking the Wrong Questions. He was a consultant to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

Professor Roberts was a Faculty Associate in Ethics from 1992 to 2014, when he passed away. 

In memoriam: Prof. Marc Roberts.