Joseph Ginty, MD, FAAFP

The Ohio Academy of Family Physicians (OAFP) is honored to name Joseph Ginty, MD, FAAFP, as the 2026 Family Physician of the Year. Over a 33-year career spanning full-spectrum private practice and, more recently, residency education, Dr. Ginty has built a reputation as a steady, patient-centered physician who defines the specialty, as well as an educator whose influence now extends across two generations of family physicians.

Growing up as one of nine siblings with frequent visits to the family pediatrician, Dr. Ginty attended medical school at The Ohio State University (OSU) planning to pursue pediatrics. It was a third-year rotation at an immigration clinic for children in Long Beach, CA, that changed his trajectory. Treating children while unable to help their parents with the same symptoms left him frustrated. Dr. Ginty’s next rotation was family medicine, which afforded the ability to care for the whole family. He discovered that family medicine would provide the fulfilling career he sought and trained for.

Dr. Ginty worked for 24 years in full-spectrum, private practice in Lancaster, OH, where he took ICU and newborn calls, followed his own patients into the hospital, served as team physician for a local high school, and cared for families spanning four generations. He also served as president of the Fairfield County Academy of Medicine, sat on the boards of Fairfield Medical Center and New Horizons, and helped shape Head Start’s pediatric lead-screening guidelines.

In 2018, after a year as a locum tenens physician, Dr. Ginty joined the full-time faculty at the OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital Family Medicine Residency program, where he now serves as associate program director. Colleagues say he brought something the teaching faculty needed: decades of real-world practice experience in billing, coding, and practice management, paired with a calm, patient teaching style that residents quickly embraced. He also leads the program’s quality improvement rotation and its practical literature evaluation curriculum. Dr. Ginty has presented nationally at conferences for the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine on topics ranging from food insecurity programs to competency-based evaluation.

“During my training and private practice, I was lucky enough to have many mentors who assisted me in my journey in medicine,” said Dr. Ginty. “It was always my hope to give back to the next generation of physicians.”

His teaching has been repeatedly recognized by the residents themselves: Dr. Ginty has been named Riverside’s Family Medicine Teacher of the Year five times, including four times since transitioning to full-time faculty, and received the program’s Courage to Teach award in 2019. In anonymous resident feedback, he’s been described as a “wizard” — knowledgeable, patient, and always willing to guide residents toward their own answers rather than simply supplying them. Residents and colleagues alike describe him as the person they turn to not just for clinical guidance, but for support through personal and professional struggles.

Dr. Ginty’s commitment to the next generation of physicians runs deep. He directs a longitudinal clerkship curriculum for third-year medical students from the Ohio University Heritage College of Medicine (OUHCOM), mentors students in OUHCOM’s Rural and Underserved Scholars Program, and has served as an advisor to residents and chief residents throughout his tenure. Several students have credited his mentorship directly with their decision to pursue family medicine.

Perhaps the clearest measure of his impact is his patients’ loyalty. When Dr. Ginty moved his practice from Lancaster to Columbus, OH, many patients chose to make the hour-long drive rather than find a new physician, a testament to the trust built over decades of care.

“It is humbling for me to realize what great teachers my patients have been for me,” explained Dr. Ginty. “They have helped me to understand that it is not always necessary to have all the right answers or the latest treatment. It is more important to be present with them in their journey, to listen to their story, and to provide support even when I cannot provide a cure.”

The OAFP congratulates Dr. Ginty on this well-earned recognition and thanks him for his decades of service to patients, medical students, residents, and the specialty of family medicine.

To learn more about the Family Physician of the Year award, please visit the OAFP website.

The Ohio Academy of Family Physicians is a statewide, professional association with more than 4,400 members, including practicing physicians, family medicine residents, and medical students. The scope of family medicine encompasses all ages, both sexes, and every disease entity. Family physicians provide comprehensive, continuing care to all members of the family. For more information, visit the OAFP website.

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