Sociology Department

Andrew McGuire

AM@TraumaF.org

Andrew McGuire is the Executive Director of the Trauma Foundation located at San Francisco General Hospital. During the past 33 years, he has been directly involved in many health policy issues that have faced state and national policymakers.

As the first director of Action Against Burns (Boston, 1973-1975), he successfully lobbied for a flame resistant sleepwear standard (sizes 7-14) in Massachusetts and, in addition, established one of the first in the nation self-help groups for burn survivors. In 1978, he began a national campaign for fire-safe cigarettes (cigarettes which will not cause ignition if dropped on bedding or furniture), which has led to mandatory fire-safety standards for cigarettes in 7 U.S. states and Canada.

He was on the national board of directors of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) from 1981-1983, and was responsible for securing MADD’s initial major funding, and served as national Acting Executive Director. He organized and served as statewide director of the California Coalition to Reduce Car Crash Injuries, which assisted in passage of the mandatory seatbelt law. In 1990, he served as volunteer Chairperson of the defeated statewide initiative campaign to increase alcohol taxes a “nickel-a-drink” (Prop. 134). He led the statewide campaign in California to ban Saturday Night Specials. In 1998, he established the first national grassroots gun control organization, the Bell Campaign, which was later renamed the Million Mom March (MMM). He Chaired the MMM event at the U.S. Capitol Mall that was attended by over 700,000 people. He directed the MMM until 2001. Currently, he is directing the OneCareNow campaign in California for universal, single payer health care.

He is also a filmmaker. His first feature-length documentary film, “Here’s Looking at You, Kid” (1980), portrayed the rehabilitation of a seven year-old boy who had suffered a 75 percent full-thickness burn injury. His second documentary film, “Heroic Measures” (1982), examined the ethical questions surrounding the resuscitation of people severely burned. Since then he has produced eight educational and documentary films. Additionally, he served as Chair of the Board of the Mill Valley Film Festival in the early 1980’s.

Andrew has received a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Prize Fellowship (1985-1990), Kellogg National Fellowship (1982-1985), and was presented an Emmy Award (1982) after his film, “Here’s Looking at You, Kid” was shown as a NOVA on PBS. He has two Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees from the University of New England, Biddeford, Maine, and California State University, conferred at Sonoma State University. He is an Associate in the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health.