Born ca. 1908 of Polish decent, Jan Pawel Szlazak spent his early years in Galacia, a former province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He escaped from Nazi-occupied Poland early in World War II. Szlazak practised plastic surgery at Rooksdown House in Bassingstoke, England, from 1944 to 1950 – under the tutelage of Sir Harold Delf Gillies, the founder of plastic surgery in England, and Sir Archibald McIndoe. Szlazak received the Silver Cross of Merit in 1943 for distinguished service as a medical officer in Poland, England, and France. He was commissioned as an officer in the Polish Air Force in 1946; and in the Royal Air Force in 1948, eventually reaching the rank of squadron leader. Szlazak was the first plastic surgeon in Saskatchewan, performing maxillo-facial and plastic surgery. He worked at the former Medical Arts Centre in Regina from 1950 until his retirement in 1974, and was the Head of Plastic Surgery at Regina General Hospital. Szlazak married Christina Matecz, and the couple had two children, Anita and Ian. Jan Szlazak died in Ottawa on 12 October 1987, in his 79th year.