UCLA professor promoted healthy living

Dr. Antronette Yancey, a professor at the UCLA Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health who devoted her life to promoting healthy living and exercise to eliminate health problems, died April 23 of lung cancer. She was 55.

Yancey’s colleagues and friends knew her as a social person who dedicated her life to mentoring others, in both their physical and personal lives.

Yancey was a leader in the area of physical activity, said Dr. Beth Glenn, a colleague of Yancey’s for the past 10 years and an assistant professor in the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.

She created “Instant Recess,” a nationally known program that promotes 10-minute breaks at schools and workplaces for physical exercise.

Dr. Roshan Bastani, a professor of health services and co-director of the UCLA Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity, and Yancey were colleagues for the past 23 years.

“She was very enthusiastic about what she wanted to accomplish and promoted physical activity 20 years before people were willing to accept it to be linked to obesity,” Bastani said.

Yancey came to UCLA in 1990 to complete her preventive medicine residency and became a faculty member following her residency. She taught at the university ever since.

Denise Woods, the program manager for the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health project – also known as REACH – said Yancey was her professor and mentor, and motivated her to go back to school in 2005.

Woods met Yancey at a pickup basketball game. Woods, who had a master’s degree at the time, was thinking about going back to school for communication studies.

But when Yancey conveyed her passion for public health, Woods decided to go back and to pursue a doctoral degree in the public health program at UCLA.

“She made me believe I would be a perfect fit for public health. She made me see something in myself that I couldn’t see,” Woods said.

Yancey tried to promote active living at UCLA and outside the campus.

She reached out to low-income communities to give their residents tips on healthy living, Bastani said. She also served as a committee member of the Healthy Campus Initiative, which promotes healthy living and lifestyle choices at UCLA.

“She had the ability to get people to get up and move,” Bastani said.

Yancey showed her dedication to her life’s work through her everyday activities and interactions with colleagues, Bastani said.

Yancey once gave Bastani a big blue exercise ball chair because she said she wanted her colleague to move and balance while sitting in her office so she could have some physical activity.

“This is who she was,” Bastani said. “She led by example.”

She enjoyed writing poetry and was a former model, Bastani said.

Yancey received her bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology at Northwestern University and received her medical degree from Duke University. She completed her residency in preventive medicine at UCLA, where she also earned a master’s in public health.

“She was an important member of our research team. She leaves a hole that no one will be able to fill,” Glenn said. “To honor her, we will continue her work.”

In remembrance of Yancey, more than 150 organizations and schools across the country participated in instant recess at the same time last week, Bastani said.

Yancey is survived by her partner of 11 years, Darlene Edgley, their daughter Kanitra, son-in-law Oscar and granddaughter Anais.

Her funeral was on May 3 at Forest Lawn in Hollywood Hills. A memorial at UCLA will take place sometime during fall quarter.