Carol McGruder senior project director, Co founder AATCLC

Carol McGruder is a seasoned veteran of California’s tobacco control experience. Carol is a senior project director,
activist, researcher, and writer. She is experienced in the fields of public policy, social marketing, media advocacy,
global tobacco control, health education, community capacity/power building, and leadership development. She is
a proud co-founding member and Co-Chairperson of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council
(AATCLC). Created to inform the direction of tobacco control policy, practices, and priorities, the AATCLC
works at the intersection of public health policy and social injustice. They have fought resolutely against the
decades of racialized tobacco industry targeting of the Black community and the resulting 45,000 Black lives lost
each year from tobacco-induced diseases. www.savingblacklives.org
The AATCLC has been at the forefront of the national movement to restrict the sale of mentholated tobacco
products, assisting municipalities across the country. In 2020, the AATCLC, ASH, the American Medical
Association and the National Medical Association filed an administrative lawsuit against the Food and Drug
Administration for its failure to take mentholated tobacco products off the market. The lawsuit prompted the FDA
to declare that it will begin the arduous rule-making process in 2022 to finally take deadly menthol and little cigars
off the market.
Carol has received honors from many organizations including the San Francisco and Berkeley Branches of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She served as NAACP Branch President for
Berkeley, CA for two terms. She received the prestigious Biddy Mason “unsung shero” award in 2021.