Dr. Eliseo Orrantia of Marathon is the third doctor from the community to receive the award from the Ontario College of Family Physicians since 2013.
MARATHON — For the third time in 13 years, a doctor practising in Marathon has received a prestigious award from the Ontario College of Family Physicians.
Dr. Eliseo Orrantia, a rural generalist physician, was recently named the 2026 winner of the college’s Reg L. Perkin Family Physician of the Year award.
Dr. Orrantia has served the community for over 30 years, delivering babies, attending to patients in the ER, and — in acute and long-term care — providing both primary care and end-of-life care.
In announcing the award, the college said he has been active in health care transformation in a variety of roles, including as 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.
He has also served as a full professor with NOSM University, where he is active in applied rural research including health human resources, rural obstetrics and medical education.
“It is through our collective muscle and collaboration that we make the primary care system work,” Dr. Orrantia said. “I believe it is our duty to continue to learn, innovate and implement to improve family medicine.”
The award was presented on Sept. 24 at a ceremony in Toronto.
Dr. Barbara Zelek of Marathon received the Family Physician of the Year Award in 2021, as did Dr. Sarah Newberry in 2013.
Newberry was also named Family Physician of the Year by the College of Family Physicians of Canada the same year.