An Engineer Asked the Question Medicine Didn’t — and Found a Deadly Answer
Photo by Photogramy studio on Unsplash
Michael Menard applies systems thinking to public health and exposes childhood trauma as America’s most lethal unaddressed crisis.
Michael Menard spent his career solving complex engineering problems for Johnson & Johnson, NASA, and Fortune 100 companies. He never expected the most consequential system failure he’d uncover would be in American public health.
In his new book,
Greater Than Gravity: How Childhood Trauma Is Pulling Down Humanity (UACT Press, March 19, 2026), Menard applies an engineer’s lens to decades of mortality data and identifies a root cause medicine has consistently overlooked. Childhood trauma, he argues, is the underlying driver behind addiction, suicide and incarceration, contributing to an estimated 1,401 deaths every day in the United States.
“We’ve been looking at mortality the wrong way,” Menard said. “Death certificates record what people die from — heart attacks, overdoses, cancer. They don’t record what people die because of. When you trace these deaths back to their root cause, childhood trauma is number one.”
Menard isn’t just a researcher. He’s a survivor.
One of 14 children raised in poverty in Kankakee, Illinois, Menard lost two brothers to addiction, which he now understands was rooted in their shared childhood trauma. He went on to become a global VP of Engineering at Johnson & Johnson, an inventor with 14 patents, and an advisor to NASA and the United Nations.
“I spent my career solving complex problems,” Menard said. “This is the most important one I’ve ever worked on.”
Dr. Glenn Schiraldi, author of The Adverse Childhood Experiences Recovery Workbook and faculty member at the Pentagon and University of Maryland, wrote the book’s foreword. He calls childhood trauma “the largest threat to the well-being of humanity known today.”
Greater Than Gravity goes beyond diagnosis to deliver hope.
Menard outlines concrete solutions and introduces readers to the emerging field of trauma-responsive care. The book validates the 180 million American adults carrying unresolved trauma while sounding an urgent alarm for the 50 million children being traumatized right now.
Menard founded United Against Childhood Trauma (UACT), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, to turn awareness into action.
“Today, 1,401 people will die from the effects of childhood trauma,” Menard said. “This book is my refusal to let them die in silence.”
Greater Than Gravity: How Childhood Trauma Is Pulling Down Humanity releases March 19, 2026.
Greater Than Gravity: How Childhood Trauma Is Pulling Down Humanity
Publisher: UACT Press
Pre-Order Date: December 1, 2025
Release Date: March 19, 2026
ISBN-13: 978-1968559007
Available from: Amazon.com
About the Author
Michael Menard’s journey from trauma survivor to the man who exposed the United States’ leading cause of death marks one of the most significant discoveries in modern public health. Born into a family of 14 children in Kankakee, Illinois, Menard learned early that survival required both resilience and innovation.
As Vice President of Engineering at Johnson & Johnson, his 14 patents transformed global manufacturing. His problem-solving expertise has been sought by the United Nations, NASA and Fortune 100 companies, including Coca-Cola and Pfizer.
He is the founder of United Against Childhood Trauma (www.uactnow.com) and the bestselling author of four books.
For more information, please visit www.Michaeljmenard.com, or find him on Facebook (Michael.Menard.1690); Instagram (michaeljmenard), TikTok (thekitethatcouldntfly) and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/
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