After his time in the Navy, Wagner moved to England to work as a postdoctoral fellow with Christopher Andrewes.
In 1967 Wagner moved to the University of Virginia School of Medicine to serve as the chair of the Department of Microbiology.
Wagner also became the director of the newly created University of Virginia Cancer Center and was appointed the Marion McNulty and Marvin C. Weaver Professor of Oncology in 1984.
[2] With Heinz Fraenkel-Conrat, Wagner collaborated in editing a vast 19-volume treatise called Comprehensive Virology.
[4][5] Wagner retired and assumed professor emeritus status at the University of Virginia in 1994, though he continued to be an active member of the community.