Mary E. Swigar, MD

Anchored in medicine and neurology, in addition to psychiatry, Mary E. Swigar, MD, initially wanted to be a neurosurgeon, but it was a field that few women were in at the time. Still interested in the functions of the brain, she found psychiatry to be as equally exciting a field. She was grateful that psychiatry afforded her a broad range of opportunities, which would include research ethics and the broad diagnostic aspect in relation to brain-body function. Since 2013, Dr. Swigar has been recognized as a professor emerita in psychiatry and neuropsychiatry of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway, New Jersey. She began her career as an associate professor of psychiatry and neuropsychiatry at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1977, remaining in this position for 11 years before joining Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey, as an associate professor from 1988 to 2000.

Prior to the start of her professional career, Dr. Swigar pursued a professional career at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, earning a Bachelor of Science in 1962 and later a Lifetime Achievement Award. She then matriculated at Temple University in Philadelphia, where she obtained an MD in 1966. Additionally, Dr. Swigar is a retired registered psychiatrist in the State of New Jersey.