Robert Sawyer graduated from the University of Michigan with a BS in Biomedical Sciences in 1984 and an MD in 1986. He finished a general surgery residency at the University of Virginia in 1994 and a transplant surgery fellowship at the University of Michigan in 1996. He finished a surgical critical care fellowship at the University of Virginia in 2003. He became professor of Surgery at the University of Virginia in 2008. He is now Professor and Chair of Surgery at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker School of Medicine. His research is in infectious diseases and nutrition.