Background
Doctor Swan was born in Scotland and studied medicine at the University of Aberdeen graduating in 1976.
Doctor Swan was born in Scotland and studied medicine at the University of Aberdeen graduating in 1976.
Doctor Swan moved to Australia, where he started work with the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1982. He was the general manager of American Broadcasting Company Radio National for three years from 1990, and in that time recruited Phillip Adams, Geraldine Doogue and Wendy Harmer as program presenters. Swan co-hosted the Radio National program Life Matters between 1996 and 2001.
Swan has produced and presented American Broadcasting Company radio program The Health Report from its inception in 1982.
Doctor Swan has been awarded the highest honour in Australian journalism and the Australian equivalent of a Pulitzer Prize—the Gold Walkley—for revealing scientific fraud conducted by well-known gynaecologist Doctor William McBride. Doctor Swan"s investigation sent "shock waves throughout the medical world" and led to Doctor McBride being de-registered.
Doctor Swan"s son Jonathan Swan is an award-winning national political correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age (Melbourne).
