Dr. Leroy Swift completed college and medical school at Howard University and then an internship at Homer G. Phillips Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. He came to Lincoln Hospital in 1938 as a surgery resident. After completing residency, Dr. Swift obtained training in obstetrics-gynecology under the direction of Dr. Eleanor Easley and Dr. Philip H. Pearce, two white obstetrician-gynecologists in Durham who worked at Lincoln Hospital and at Watts Hospital. Dr. Swift went on to become the first board certified African American obstetrician-gynecologist at Lincoln Hospital. He was elected a fellow at the International College of Surgeons and as a member of the American College of Abdominal Surgery.