Dr. Ngozi Ezike, a familiar face throughout the pandemic, leaving post as top Illinois public health official in mid-March – Chicago Tribune*

“I am so blessed to have been able to bring some measure of comfort to Illinoisans, to quiet some of the chaos and to infuse some calm. I’m proud to be an example that empathy and strength can exist in the same body and in the same breath. I’m glad that I served as a role model to young girls, girls of color, little Black girls, that they can be leaders in any field,” said Ezike, the first Black woman to lead the state’s public health department. “And I’m proud to show our young boys, as well, the future men of our society, examples of women in leadership.”