San Diego County Childhood Obesity Initiative’s (COI) Community Council Tri-Chairs. Rocina Lizarraga, Earl Felisme, and Tana Lepule
Sherman Heights Community Center (SHCC), established in 1984, serves about 20,000 residents from Sherman Heights, Grant Hill, Logan Heights, Barrio Logan, and other neighboring South Bay communities.
Nina Ghatan is a Manager at Community Health Improvement Partners, where she uses a collective impact model to provide backbone support to the San Diego County Childhood Obesity Initiative. In this role she works collaboratively with over 200 partners across seven sectors to improve healthy eating and active living environments countywide by advancing policy, systems, and [...]
Vi Calvo, MA, works at the American Council on Exercise (ACE). As the Partnership and Funding Manager of ACE’s Community Investment and Engagement initiative, she seeks to increase physical activity opportunities in communities across the nation. She brings over ten years of experience working in the nonprofit sector specializing in cross-sector collaborations, resident engagement, resource [...]
Laura Niksch (formerly Laura Jeanes) is a Registered Dietitian currently working with the Head Start Program at Neighborhood House Associations their Nutrition Coordinator. Originally from Texas, Laura moved to California just over four years ago. She completed her undergraduate degree (BS in Dietetics) at the University of Maryland, College Park. Afterward, Laura completed a combined [...]
Tina Zenzola is the Obesity Prevention Programs Director and the Interim Unit Director for the Chronic Disease and Health Equity Unit in the Public Health Services Division of HHSA. In these roles, she oversees state and federal grant-funded programs that apply a health equity lens in reducing chronic disease and obesity through policy, systems, and environmental [...]
Natalie Digate Muth, MD, MPH, RDN, FAAP is a dual board-certified pediatrician and obesity medicine physician and registered dietitian. She practices general pediatrics at Children's Primary Care Medical Group where she also leads a healthy weight clinic called the W.E.L.L. Clinic. In addition, she is the Senior Advisor for Healthcare Solutions for the American Council [...]
Kim McDougal is a third generation Alaska native and admits that when her family first moved to San Diego when she was 15 years old, it "was a hard adjustment." As a child, Kim enjoyed exploring the outdoors, camping, and fishing on the weekends, so when her family relocated to Encinitas for her father's work, [...]
Dan Bennett is a Communications Director at UC San Diego Center for Community Health and a San Diego native who has worked on community-health projects for the past seven years, leading communications and messaging efforts, and helping organizations tell their story through focus on human impact, including storytelling training for organization staff. Dan spent more [...]
Paige Metz received her BS in Physical Education from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. After graduation, she spent 10 years teaching 6th, 7th, and 8th grade Exercise and Nutritional Science (ENS) at Twin Peaks Middle School (2001 California Middle School Physical Education Program of the Year). During this time, Paige was one of the first [...]
