Dr. Robert Schwartz grew up in Boulder, Colorado, in the academic community surrounding the University of Colorado. He pursued interests in electrical engineering and physics at an undergraduate and graduate level and went to medical school with the intent of combining interests in basic sciences with clinical and medical practice. This combination was pursued at Mayo Clinic in establishing the Center for Applied Vascular Biology and Coronary Interventions

Following this, he joined the Minneapolis Heart Institute, and helped found the Minnesota Cardiovascular Research Institute, a subsidiary of the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation. This institute is dedicated to novel technology and its medical applications.