Chief of Staff

John Heintzman was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. He was a Sir James Dunn scholarship recipient upon graduating from the former Bawating High School (now Superior Heights). He completed his undergraduate studies in Kinesiology at the University of Waterloo. He then studied medicine at Queen’s University, where he developed an interest in Child Psychiatry.

Dr. Heintzman accepted a psychiatric residency position at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and completed adult training, followed by a Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship position. He accepted his first position in 1998 as a Child Psychiatrist in Warren, Pennsylvania.

In October of 2002, Dr. Heintzman returned to Canada and began a career with Grand River Hospital as Medical Director of Child Psychiatry Services. Since 2004, he has served as the Chief of Psychiatry and Medical Director of the Mental Health and Addictions Program, and he also worked as the deputy chief of staff from 2017-2023.  Dr. Heintzman also worked for many years as a consulting psychiatrist for student health services at the University of Waterloo, served as the psychiatry chief at Cambridge Memorial Hospital, and was the physician lead for Waterloo Wellington Canadian Mental Health Association.

Dr. Heintzman is committed to building collaborative partnerships both within SAH and the community at large.

SAH is committed to being open and transparent with its stakeholders and the general public.  Further to this commitment is our compliance with the Broader Public Sector Accountability Act 2010.  This act was implemented to strengthen and reinforce accountability, transparency and oversight of government expense claims.

As per direction received from the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, SAH has created this summary which details the expense reports of Board Members and Senior Staff.

Dr. John Heintzman, Chief of Staff