Rob Hawes trained at Indiana University and completed advanced endoscopic training with Peter Cotton in London in 1985-86. Dr. Hawes served on faculty at IU from 1986-1994 and was promoted to Full Professor in 1994. Dr. Hawes established the endoscopic ultrasound program at IU in 1987.

In 1994, Dr. Hawes re-connected with Peter Cotton and moved to the Medical University of South Carolina to form a Digestive Disease Center. This center was designed to facilitate the integration of GI medicine, surgery and radiology to promote patient care, research, and technology development. During his tenure at MUSC, the institution became recognized nationally and internationally for excellence in EUS, ERCP and therapeutic endoscopy.

Dr. Hawes served as President of the ASGE in 2005-2006 and then joined with David Rattner (President of the SAGES) to form the Natural Orifice Surgery Consortium for Assessment and Research (NOSCAR) committee. This goal of this joint committee is to responsibly develop NOTES (natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery).

Dr Hawes has published over 300 peer reviewed articles, performed live demonstration in over 30 countries, held the 1st endowed chair in endoscopy in the US from 2006-2012, and is co-editor of the most widely read textbook on EUS (3rd Edition release this year).

In January 2012, Dr Hawes moved to Florida Hospital Orlando to build an Institute for Minimally Invasive Therapy and to establish the Center for Interventional Endoscopy. He is currently Professor of Medicine at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine.