'empowering' women, changing healthcare
With a successful Pushing Boundaries Capital Campaign behind her, Michelle Robson turns to advocating for women's health

Michelle Robson never planned to be a women’s health advocate, but after a devastating health experience of her own, she is devoted to empowering women to take charge of their healthcare. Her personal mission has led her to develop an innovative health web site for women, www.empowher.com.

“As women, we tend not to advocate for ourselves. We’re great at advocating for our loved ones, but when it comes to our own health needs, we tend to do what we’re told without questioning it. Our intuition is so strong, but we rarely use it for ourselves,” Robson said.

Robson’s debilitating ordeal began shortly after she underwent a complete hysterectomy at the age of 42. She was transformed from a very active and highly functioning woman to one who struggled to get out of bed in the morning. Her life was reduced to a bedridden blur of severe joint pain, fatigue, night sweats, insomnia, mental fogginess, depression and gastrointestinal issues.

Robson suffered through a year filled with countless doctor appointments with a dozen specialists and nine different prescribed medications before a friend recommended a book by Dr. Elizabeth Vliet, Screaming to be Heard.

“That book saved my life. After reading the first page, I couldn’t put it down and finished it in two days,” Robson said. “I was so excited to know that I was not alone. There were other women out there who had the same things happening to them. It so validated everything that I’d been feeling.”

Through Empowher, Robson will reach out to all women, giving them access to the latest in medical information, news and health events, but most importantly, a safe place to share their stories and support one another.

“ We have to learn to take care of ourselves and to talk to other women, to stand up and take charge together. My mother always said, ‘At the end of the day, it’s you who is going to take care of you,’” Robson said.

The concept of teamwork between patient and doctor is one that Robson strongly believes in and plans to promote within her site. Experts of all health areas will be invited to participate throughout the Empowher site.

Ultimately, Robson’s long-term goal is to reach out to every single woman around the globe and to allow them to have a voice. “It’s one woman at a time. Women are going to change our healthcare, and I want to help lead that change,” Robson said.

Robson is no stranger to reaching out within the medical community. She and her husband, Ed, are generous supporters of St. Joseph’s and Barrow. The couple served on the Campaign Cabinet of the Pushing BoundariesCapital Campaign, which raised millions of dollars for the new Barrow Neuroscience Tower and other campus improvements. Robson and Julie Wrigley served as co-chairs of the campaign.

“ Barrow is a huge asset to our community,” she said when the campaign began in 2003. “We are known throughout the country and in other countries as having one of the top neuroscience centers in the world right here in our own backyard. It’s important we have a state-of-the-art facility.”

Thanks to the leadership of Robson and Wrigley and gifts from hundreds of benefactors, Barrow now has that world-class facility.