Meet our President

John Paul Schaefer, MD, FRCS, FACS

John Paul Schaefer was born in Toronto and happily spent his early childhood in the village of Elmvale and later the small Niagara town of Dunnville, Ontario where he was a good student and an avid hockey player. After high school graduation, he spent one year at the school of “hard knocks” working as an apprentice plumber, a factory and construction worker and farm labourer. He credits the farmer’s wife for steering him toward more education by demanding that he get off the tractor and enroll at university.

He completed first year pre-med in 1958 at Waterloo Lutheran College followed by second year pre-med at Acadia University.  He was accepted at Dalhousie Medical School and graduated in 1964 when he began a residency in internal medicine at the Victoria General Hospital in Halifax.  In 1965, he moved to Edmonton to continue his studies as a general surgery resident for one year. He completed his general surgery residency in Halifax and earned his Canadian fellowship (FRCS©) in 1969.

In 1970 Dr. Paul Schaefer began general practice and general surgery in Labrador City, NL.  In 1971 he moved to Summerside, PEI where he has done a broad spectrum of general surgery. Dr. Schaefer continues to practice at the Prince County Hospital. 

Throughout his career, Dr. Schaefer has taken a particular interest in enhancing education by mentoring medical students and improving the learning opportunities for other members of the health team.  He received the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Regional Award in 2003 recognizing his contribution to his community and his dedication to continuing professional development.

In 1997, Dr. Schaefer was the recipient of the Thomas Moore Award presented annually to a Prince County Hospital employee or physician.  The award recognizes outstanding service, dedication, superior skill and contribution to the workplace.

Dr. Schaefer has an ongoing interest in the far north kindled by his work in 1963 as a medical student at the Grenfell Mission in St. Anthony in northern Newfoundland and by a stint in the NWT while completing a year of training in Edmonton.  In the past few years, he has done several locums in Iqaluit and Pangnirtung, Nunavut as well as returning numerous times to St. Anthony, NL.

Dr. Schaefer currently serves as PEI representative with the Canadian Association of General Surgeons (CAGS).

In April 2009, part of a contingent of Island health professionals, Dr. Schaefer traveled to Haiti to work at the North West Haiti Christian Mission

Dr. Schaefer and his wife Katherine (nee Sutherland) have five grown children, Timothy, Heidi, Hans, Daniel and Rebecca as well as four grandchildren. Recreational interests have included reading, gardening, hiking, skiing, listening to music and searching for beautiful rocks along Georgian Bay.