Dr. Schafer has made original research contributions to our understanding of normal blood platelet biology and metabolism, abnormalities of platelet function in the myeloproliferative disorders, platelet-vascular cell interactions, the role of hemodynamic forces on platelets and vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells, and the nitric oxide synthase/nitric oxide and the heme oxygenase/carbon monoxide systems in vascular cell biology. He has authored over 210 original articles in peer reviewed journals and has been continuously funded as principal investigator by the NIH for almost 30 years.