After graduating from Central, Dr. Robert (Bob) Swift Wigton went on to Harvard, where he majored in English literature. He received his M.D. at UNMC, where he completed an additional master’s degree in physiology and biophysics, began an internal medicine residency, and then joined the faculty, focusing on patient care, teaching, and research. As associate dean for the residency programs and professor in internal medicine, he has focused on research in medical education and on how physicians make clinical decisions. He developed methods in computer-based teaching, and he established clinical decision rules designed to help physicians make more accurate diagnoses. He is recognized as a national authority on the teaching of medical procedures, having done research to make doctors’ performance of procedures safer. He has received many awards, including the Irving S. Cutter Gold Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Medicine, the Elnora M. Rhodes SGIM Service Award, and the Eugene Saenger Award for Distinguished Service. He has received many grants and contracts in support of his work, and he has written innumerable scientific articles, papers, books, and book chapters on topics related to his field of medicine. Bob has also served on numerous medical committees, has been a national editor for medical journals and a medical board examiner, and he is a fellow in the American College of Medical Informatics.
Robert passed away in 2022 at the age of 80.