Colin Schwartz graduated from the University of Adelaide with top honours in medicine in 1954. From 1959 to 1961 he served as Assistant to the Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Oxford, and was a C.J. Martin Fellow of the National Health and Medical Research Council. Since that time his long academic career had been devoted to medical education and cardiovascular research.
Cardiovascular medicine was his enduring research interest, with major contributions on the hemodynamic, cellular, and molecular biological aspects of atherosclerosis, and the mechanisms leading to the development of coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction, and coronary thrombosis. Professor Schwartz published widely in this field, with his first major book Arterial Disease published in 1965. He served on numerous committees of the American Heart Association and the National Institute of Health, and has received many awards.
Colin Schwartz was Professor Emeritus, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the University of Texas Health Science Centre at San Antonio.