Joan Roberts joined the Yooralla Hospital School for Crippled Children committee of management in 1948 and became president in 1968. In 1977 the Yooralla Hospital School for Crippled Children and of the Victorian Society for Crippled Children and Adults amalgamated, to establish the Yooralla Society of Victoria. Roberts was president of the Society until 1978. From 1979 to 1987 she was a member of the executive committee of the Arthritis Foundation of Victoria.

Prior to marrying Allen Roberts on 1 November 1937 and having three children, she was a biochemist from 1934 to 1937 at Prince Henry's Hospital, and a research biochemist at the University of Melbourne from 1931 to 1934.

Roberts completed her secondary education at the Presbyterian Ladies College, before obtaining a Master of Science from the University of Melbourne.

Sources used to compile this entry: Howie, Ann (ed.), Who's who in Australia 1991, 27 edn, Information Australia Group Pty Ltd, Melbourne, 1990, 1267 pp; Lofthouse, Andrea (ed.), Who's who of Australian women, Methuen Australia, North Ryde (NSW), 1982, 504 pp.