BSc Manch 1939, MB ChB 1942, MD 1951; FFARCS 1953; DA Eng 1948.
Swerdlow was a pioneer in pain control and a founder of the Pain Society. He was born in 1920 and gained his medical education at the University of Manchester, where he was awarded the Dauntesey Medical Scholarship. After qualifying, he served in the RAMC. Swerdlow returned to England in 1948 and specialised in anaesthesia; he was exchange fellow at the University of Pittsburgh before being appointed consultant anaesthetist to Salford Hospital Group in 1954. He was known for his pioneering work in anaesthesia, and introduced and developed many new anaesthetic nerve block techniques.
In 1959 he founded the pain clinic at Salford which later became the North West Regional Pain Relief Centre. In 1967 Swerdlow founded the Intractable Pain Society, later renamed the Pain Society, and was chairman in 1971. He was also a founder member of the International Association for the Study of Pain in 1975. He was made honorary member of both these societies. Swerdlow retired in 1980, but was adviser to the World Health Organisation Cancer Pain Relief Programme for seven years. Swerdlow died on 26 February 2003.