Her mother, Mary Anne Schwalbe, was one of the founders of the International Rescue Committee UK, and founding director of the Women's Refugee Commission.

[8] Amongst other global initiatives, Schwalbe worked with Paul Farmer and Partners in Health to treat drug resistant tuberculosis in Russian prisons.

[12] In this capacity, she developed collaborations and coalitions between governments of low and lower-middle income and OECD countries, UN bodies and members of the G8 to accelerate the regulatory approval and procurement and distribution of new therapeutics for tuberculosis.

[13] In her seven years at Gavi, Schwalbe developed policies and strategy on vaccine investment, market shaping, monitoring and evaluation, and performance management.

[14][15] In 2011, Schwalbe successfully negotiated with pharmaceutical companies and other stakeholders to expand the Gavi portfolio to include affordable Human papillomavirus vaccines.

[21] Schwalbe was member of the interagency design team for the Global Financing Facility for Maternal, Child, Newborn and Adolescent Health (GFF) a partnership housed at the World Bank.