Dr. Swain has a Ph.D. in Immunology from Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA and a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. She was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Immunology at the University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California.

She has had several key positions including Associate Professor and then later Professor of Biology in Residence at UCSD, Section Editor for the Journal of Immunology, Chairman of AAI Travel Award Committee, Nominating and Program Committees and Scientific Advisory Board of the International Institute of Immunology and Aging, and the AIDS Basic Research Advisory Committee. 

Dr. Swain is on the editorial board of Journal of Experimental Medicine, Journal of Immunology and International Immunology. She was a Member of the AAI Committee on Women and an elected member of the AAI Council.

She has organized several International and National meetings, including the Midwinter Immunology Conference, the Keystone Symposium on Lymphocyte Activation, the 1st and 2nd T and B Cell Memory Workshop, the International Cytokine Society meeting and the Keystone Symposium on Immunologic Memory. 

Dr. Swain served as Director of the Trudeau Institute from 1996 until December of 2007 and has over 190 publications.

To contact Dr. Swain email:  sswain@trudeauinstitute.org