The OCFP is excited to recognize the exceptional skill, expertise and commitment of family physicians, residents and medical students across Ontario through the 2026 Awards program. The recipients exemplify family physicians’ vital role in promoting the health of Ontarians.
Thanks to all of those that recognized colleagues through nominations, and congratulations to all recipients!
Reg L. Perkin Ontario Family Physician of the Year
The Family Physician of the Year Award recognizes an outstanding CFPC family physician member from Ontario who exemplifies the best of what being a family doctor is all about, including exceptional care of patients combined with a significant contribution to the health and wellbeing of communities and society in general.
The award is named in honour of Dr. Reg L. Perkin, College of Family Physicians of Canada Executive Director from 1985 to 1996. The Reg L. Perkin recipient is chosen from the Regional Family Physician of the Year award recipients.
Dr. Eliseo Orrantia has been a rural generalist physician for over 30 years in the North Western Ontario community of Marathon, delivering babies, attending to patients in the ER, and in acute and long term care, providing comprehensive primary care and care at end of life. He has been active in health care transformation, presently as the Board Chair of the Marathon Family Health Team, on the leadership committee of the Noojmawing Sookatagaing Ontario Health Team and as a Board member of Ontario Health at Home. As a full professor with NOSM U, he is active in applied rural research with a generalist’s varied interests, including health human resources, rural obstetrics and medical education.
Dr. Orrantia loves to get out on self-supported adventures in the wild with his family.
Regional Family Physicians of the Year
The Regional Family Physician of the Year Award recognizes six physicians – one from each region of the province – who provide exemplary care to their patients and are passionately involved in activities that contribute to excellence in family medicine. This year was exceptional as we received multiple nominations for a pair of physicians who worked together in a region.
Dr. Edward R. Hirvi is a family physician, medical educator, and healthcare leader based in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. He has been in clinical practice at the Group Health Centre since 2008, providing comprehensive family medicine, medical education and serving as Medical Director of F.J. Davey Home. He is also an Associate Professor and Section Chair of Family Medicine at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine University (NOSM University), where he has held numerous leadership roles in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education.
A recognized leader in healthcare governance, Dr. Hirvi serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Sault Ste. Marie District Group Health Association and sits on the Board of Directors of the Algoma District Medical Group and Foundation for Medical Practice Education. His work has focused on advancing distributed medical education, health informatics, physician leadership, and quality improvement in primary care and long-term care.
He spends much of the Spring and Summer with his wife watching his three boys on baseball diamonds across the province.
Dr. James Fullerton is a proud Carleton Place family physician since 1997. He has practiced comprehensive small-town generalist medicine including Hospitalist, Long-Term Care, FHO lead and past Chief of Staff of the local community hospital. Most recently, he has been Primary Care Lead for the OttawaWestFourRivers OHT and has helped guide the start of a new Health Care Hub/Family Health Team in Carleton Place.He is most proud of his 3 grown children and his relationships with family, colleagues and patients.
Dr. Fullerton is proud to have joined a medical community in Carleton Place that has cared deeply about supporting each other in the challenging but wonderful world of small-town medicine. No physician can achieve anything on their own.
Dr. Shane Teper is a family physician in Brampton. After completing medical school at the University of Ottawa with residency training and early practice in Scarborough, he moved west and set down roots. Alongside his focus on comprehensive primary care, his clinical work has included hospitalist, occupational, coroner, addiction, correctional and emergency medicine. He currently serves as board chair and lead physician at Queen Square Doctors and Family Health Team, Deputy Chief of Family and Community Medicine at William Osler Health System, Co-chair of the Central West Ontario Health Team and Chief Medical Officer at Waive. He feels fortunate to have had the opportunity of working in some of the varied clinical and leadership roles that a career in family medicine can offer, while still maintaining a strong longitudinal and community-focused practice.
In his spare time, he enjoys family, friends, film and casting but has yet to master catching fish.
Dr. Karen Chu graduated from the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine in 1997 and completed her rural family medicine residency through Dalhousie University in her hometown of Fredericton, New Brunswick. Before joining the Bridgepoint Family Health Team 18 years ago, she provided care across rural and urban settings in emergency departments, hospitals, student health services, community health centres, and solo and group practices.
Today, she combines clinical care with teaching, leadership, and health system improvement as FHT Medical Director. She is a founding executive board member of the East Toronto Family Practice Network, Vice Chair of the Ontario Primary Care Council, and part of the MOH-OMA Physician Leadership Engagement Table. She is passionate about co-designing an integrated health system with patients, providers, and communities where sustainable, comprehensive family medicine is at its core.
When she isn’t caring for patients or attending meetings, you can find her cheering on the Toronto Raptors or Toronto Tempo, where, from her seat in the stands, she finally gets to experience life as someone over five feet tall.
Dr. Sonny Cejic is a family physician in London, Ontario, where he has provided comprehensive family medicine for more than 25 years. He is Centre Director and Medical Director of Byron Family Medical Centre and an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry. Throughout his career, Dr. Cejic has been passionate about patient-centred care, medical education, and quality improvement. He has mentored generations of family medicine residents and medical students and has a longstanding interest in technological innovation, exploring how electronic medical records, digital health, AI, and other emerging technologies can enhance the physician–patient relationship and improve patient care. He continues to be inspired by opportunities to advance family medicine through education, collaboration, and the thoughtful adoption of innovation.
Next year, Dr. Cejic and his family will be moving to Muskoka, where he looks forward to spending more time hiking and kayaking with his family and dogs while continuing to support local communities through occasional locum family medicine.
Family Medicine Resident & Medical Student of the Year
The Family Medicine Resident of the Year Award – Ontario’s Rising Star recognizes a resident who is an emerging leader and advocate for family medicine, and demonstrates an initiative that is making positive contributions in areas such as patient care, peer support, advocacy, community service, research, and education.
The Medical Student of the Year Award is presented to a medical student who is an emerging leader and advocate for family medicine and has made contributions to family medicine and/or primary care in areas such as patient care, peer support, advocacy, community service, research, and education.
Dr. Nkechi Ikeaba is a Family Medicine resident at the University of Toronto in the Integrated 3-Year Family Medicine Leadership Program and an MSc candidate in Health Systems Leadership and Innovation at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, Dalla Lana School of Public Health. His interests focus on how social determinants of health influence addiction, mental health, adolescent health, and chronic disease outcomes, alongside efforts to improve equitable primary care and health systems. During residency, he served as Chief Resident at Sunnybrook, Resident Lead on the Department of Family and Community Medicine’s Black Health Advisory Table, and Co-Chair of the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada Resident Committee. His work spans clinical care, research, quality improvement, medical education, advocacy, and health-system leadership.
Outside of medicine, Nkechi enjoys classical music and playing the piano and has completed Royal Conservatory of Music examinations in piano performance and music theory.
Alessia Pereira is a third-year medical student at McMaster University. Previously, she completed her undergraduate degree at Queen’s University in Health Sciences.
During her first year of medical school, she served as Co-Chair of McMaster’s Family Medicine Interest Group, leading initiatives to promote family medicine and support medical students in career exploration. Alessia is also passionate about community service, particularly supporting individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She has held leadership roles with Special Olympics chapters at Queen’s University and in Hamilton, including Program Coordinator and Head Coach. At McMaster, she helps lead a project connecting medical students and patient educators with disabilities through simulated clinical encounters, promoting greater understanding of inclusive, patient-centered care.
Outside of medicine, Alessia has a longstanding passion for fitness and exercise. After 15 years of competitive dance, she now shares this passion by teaching group fitness classes at the McMaster gym!
Medical Student of the Year
Awards of Excellence
The Award of Excellence recognizes an exceptional accomplishment or innovation achieved within the past 24 months in a specific area or for a specific project pertaining to the specialty of family medicine.
The Award of Excellence recognizes outstanding contributions in a specific area pertaining to the specialty of family medicine: patient care, community service, hospital or health-care institutions, College activities (CFPC or OCFP), teaching, research or other elements of the academic discipline of family medicine.
Dr. Jennifer Bondy attended Queen’s University for her undergraduate studies, followedby Western University for a Masters in Epidemiology and Biostatistics and medicalschool. Dr. Bondy completed her Postgraduate Medical Training at McMaster University.She has practiced family medicine for over a decade, and aside from clinical practice,Dr. Bondy dedicates time to teaching and research. In addition to her role as a boardmember with the OCFP, Dr. Bondy lends her time and expertise to Amplify Care as aPhysician Advisor, and the Board of Health of the Windsor Essex County Health Unit.Former leadership positions include work with the Windsor-Essex OHT, the AFHT Boardof Directors, and she is past president of the Essex County Medical Society. Currently,Dr. Bondy is the Medical Director for Windsor Shelter Health, and practices at severalshelters and drop-in centres for people experiencing homelessness in Windsor, Ontario.
Dr. Loredana Di Santo founded Gates of Maple Family Practice in 2005, providing comprehensive, longitudinal care to her patient population for 18 years. She now supports continuity of care as a permanent locum in the clinic, while also providing transitional care for unattached patients through Mackenzie Health’s Family Health Navigation Clinic. She serves as Chief of Family Practice at Mackenzie Health and Primary Care Lead for the Western York Region Ontario Health Team, helping shape regional strategy and foster cross-sector alignment between acute and primary care. She is passionate about innovative, coordinated, sustainable, and digitally enabled health system solutions.
When not working, Dr. Di Santo can be found taking the scenic route in search of her next outdoor adventure!
Dr. Rajesh Girdhari provides comprehensive primary care and addiction medicine services in the Regent Park community as a family physician on the Unity Health – St. Michael’s Hospital Academic Family Health Team. He is also an Assistant Professor in the University of Toronto Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM). He is passionate about ensuring that clinicians and patients have the information they need to make the best possible clinical decisions. He is a clinical lead for digital health in both the DFCM and the Patients Before Paperwork Initiative at Ontario Health. He also has experience working in emergency departments and addiction medicine clinics in urban, rural, and remote parts of Ontario.
Outside of work, Dr. Girdhari enjoys spending time with his family and friends, music, and being active. He recently completed a 3.4 km open water swim in Lake Superior.
Dr. Ojistoh Kahnawahere Horn MSc, MD, CCFP, Medical Director of Health, Mohawk Council of Akwesasne.
Dr. Horn is Kanienkeha:ka. Her mother is from Kahnawake, Qué., and her father is from Akwesasne, which saddles the borders of Ontario, Québec and New York State. She works as a family physician taking care of her people through all stages of the lifecycle. Supervising medical students and family medicine residents during their rural rotations in Akwesasne, she emphasizes the complexities of providing primary care to Indigenous peoples and their communities.
Drawing on both Western and traditional paradigms, working with like-minded physicians across the country, with a focus on the effects of the environment and pollution on health, Dr. Horn promotes the inclusion and support of traditional knowledge and “ways of being” in a framework for providing holistic and primary care to her people.
Dr. Samantha Lavitt (she/her) has practised family medicine across Ottawa and neighbouring areas, including her current home in Kemptville, since 2015. She has been teaching enthusiastically at the University of Ottawa since 2021. She currently serves as the first Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Curricular Lead in undergraduate medical education. Dr. Lavitt uses her combined professional and lived experience as a disabled family physician to drive advocacy initiatives and continuing education on disability and accessibility at provincial and national organizations, as well as conference appearances. She is proud to support her peers on disability and well-being through the Ontario College of Family Physicians Peer Connect program.
She is also a leader in her community with involvement in multiple municipal advisory committees and local initiatives. Samantha is an avid gardener and regularly harvests at least seven types of fruit from her yard over the garden season.
