Former UW neurologist August “Gus” Swanson, who paved the way for sweeping changes to medical education in the United States, died Dec. 19 at Harborview Medical Center.

Swanson served as the head of the Division of Neurology and later as an associate dean and acting dean of the School of Medicine. Swanson helped conceive the idea of a regional medical education system in the northwest, and he later assisted in turning that idea into the WWAMI program.

He left the UW for the Association of American Medical Colleges, where he helped bring about fundamental changes to the country’s medical education system.

Swanson pushed for changes in medical schools that would produce more compassionate physicians, as well as more well-rounded professionals. He encouraged students from outside the sciences to enter medical schools, and lobbied to allow medical students to take more liberal arts courses.

Swanson, a Nebraska native, graduated Harvard Medical School and completed an internship at Harborview Medical Center before joining the United States Navy. He later returned to Harborview to complete his residency in general medicine, and then became the first resident in the UW’s fledgling neurology program.

Swanson, who was 78, died of a cerebral hemorrhage.