Panel Bios

Lisa Cirill, MS, PAPHS, is Acting Chief of California Active Communities, a unit within the California Department of Public Health, which creates opportunities for safe, everyday physical activity through environmental and policy change. She has fifteen years of experience developing physical activity programs that promote active living for Californians of all ages and abilities. She serves on national and state advisory boards, planning committees, and grant review committees for federal agencies, associations, and philanthropic foundations. Ms. Cirill is the Immediate Past President of the National Society of Physical Activity Practitioners in Public Health. She received a post graduate certificate in gerontology and a master of science in kinesiology from California State University, Sacramento, and is a certified Physical Activity in Public Health Specialist.

Ted Link-Oberstar, a Safe Routes to School Parent Advocate, co-founded Traffic Tamers at Bannon Creek Elementary School in South Natomas to promote safe walking and bicycling to school. This project became the basis of a comprehensive, district-wide Safe Routes initiative in the Natomas Unified School District. The initiative, now led by a full-time grant-funded coordinator, supports walk-to-school programs in most of the district's eight elementary schools as well as education and awareness efforts and proposed infrastructure improvements for all district schools. Mr. Link-Oberstar serves as an advisor to other organizations and communities seeking to start Safe Routes to School programs. He was named "Citizen of the Year" in 2008 by the Sacramento Area Council of Governments.

Melissa Minas is a Program Manager for the Chula Vista Elementary School District, where she is responsible for coordinating several grant-funded projects, including Safe Routes to School. She has a degree in urban studies and planning with an emphasis in health, social services and education from the University of California, San Diego.