It is with great sadness that we mark the passing of Antronette (Toni) Yancey, a Center faculty associate and professor in the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Toni was a remarkable woman who promoted healthy living and developed a signature physical activity program known as Instant Recess. Her efforts were rewarded in recent years by an invitation to the White House to meet with First Lady Michelle Obama. She was also a dedicated public servant, having served as Co-Director of the UCLA Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity and as a former director of public health for the city of Richmond, VA, and a former director of chronic disease prevention and health promotion for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. She was a passionate, energetic voice for change, both in her scholarly life and in the personal poetry that she wrote and that reflected her highest ideals. In one such poem, "Recapturing Recess," she urged us all to:
"Raise up your hands…
and if you can recapture
even a little of the joy
of unbridled movement
then just maybe
there’s hope."