An Akron pediatrician who turned the ground outside her clinic into a source of free food for patient families has been named Ohio’s Community Pediatrician of the Year for 2026. Dr. Maureen Ahmann, a Cleveland Clinic Akron General physician, received the honor from the Ohio Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Akron Beacon Journal reported on Wednesday, November 4, citing the chapter’s news release.
Ahmann chairs the department of pediatrics at Akron General and also serves as medical director of the Stark County Health Department, according to the release reported by the Akron Beacon Journal. Cleveland Clinic’s own provider directory independently lists her as a pediatrics physician practicing in Akron, and she has been in practice for more than 20 years, the release said, as reported by the Beacon Journal.
"We are proud to honor Dr. Ahmann for her commitment to public health and to expanding access to healthy food for families," Melissa Wervey Gittelman, chief executive officer of the Ohio chapter, said in the news release, as reported by the Akron Beacon Journal. "This award recognizes her innovation and her work helping families discover sustainable ways to be healthy," Gittelman said in the release, according to the Beacon Journal.
The Community Pediatrician of the Year award is presented each year to a physician or partner in recognition of community commitment and work improving the health and safety of Ohio’s children and adolescents, the Akron Beacon Journal reported. This year’s choice points to a part of pediatrics that happens far from the exam room: what families eat, and whether they can get it.
The centerpiece of Ahmann’s community work is the Grow with Us Garden outside her clinic in Akron, which she started to provide patients and their families with free fruits, vegetables and herbs, the Akron Beacon Journal reported, citing the release. The garden is not only a source of produce — Ahmann uses it to teach families how to grow food at home, turning a clinic visit into a starting point for habits that continue at the kitchen table.
That approach treats food access as a health issue, not a side project. A pediatrician sees the effects of poor nutrition in growth, energy, attention and long-term disease risk, and a clinic garden puts a practical answer within walking distance of the appointment itself. For families who may never have gardened, learning beside the doctor who cares for their children carries a credibility that a pamphlet cannot match.
Ahmann’s dual roles give the work unusual reach. As a department chair at Akron General, she helps shape how pediatric care is delivered inside one of Summit County’s major hospital systems. As medical director for the Stark County Health Department, she works on the public-health side of the same problems — prevention, access and community conditions — in the county next door.
Northeast Ohio’s health systems have been in the headlines for harder reasons this fall. NewsForce247 has covered University Hospitals’ ongoing recovery from an October cyber incident, Knox Community Hospital’s agreement to join Kettering Health and the Cleveland VA’s switch to a new electronic health record. Ahmann’s award is a reminder that the region’s health story also runs through small, steady programs that rarely make news until someone stops to honor them.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What is confirmed, from the Ohio chapter’s release as reported by the Akron Beacon Journal, is the award itself, Ahmann’s two roles, her more than two decades in practice and the garden’s purpose and location outside her Akron clinic. What the announcement does not detail is the garden’s harvest totals, how many families it serves in a season, or whether the model will be expanded to other clinics — questions the chapter and Akron General have not answered in the release.
What happens next is the growing season itself. Gardens planted with a purpose tend to spread by example, and an award like this one usually brings the imitators and volunteers who make that happen. For Akron families, the practical takeaway is simpler: the doctor’s office on their street is also a place where dinner can start — free, fresh and homegrown, with the pediatrician’s blessing.