John A. Tauras is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).  He also holds a Research Associate appointment at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge Massachusetts and is a Faculty Scholar at the Institute of Health Research and Policy at UIC.  Dr. Tauras’ research focuses on the economic and policy aspects of disease prevention and health promotion. Much of his research has examined the impact of government policies on the demand for tobacco products, placing special emphasis on modeling the dynamics of addictive consumption.  Over the past two decades, he has published more than 50 journal articles and chapters in conference volumes on this topic.  

Dr. Tauras was Editor and senior author of the Regulatory Approaches Section of the 2012 Surgeon General’s Report entitled Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults: A Report of the Surgeon General.  Tauras is also the senior author on the Federal, State, and Local Policy and Tobacco Related Health Disparities chapter of the forthcoming NCI Monograph entitled A Socio-Ecological Approach to Addressing Tobacco-Related Health Disparities.  

Dr. Tauras’ research has been funded by an extensive list of Federal, state, and local government agencies and private organizations including: the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Illinois Department of Public Health, the Chicago Department of Public Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the American Legacy Foundation, Richard M. Fairbanks foundation, and various other organizations.  

Dr. Tauras has acted as a Senior Advisor/Consultant to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Bank, The World Health Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer, the National Association of Attorneys General, Arkansas Attorney General, Minnesota Attorney General, California Attorney General, Ireland National Tobacco Control Office, New Hampshire Community Health Institute,  Pennsylvania Department of Health, Orange County Health Department, Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City, Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, The American Cancer Society, the American Legacy Foundations, Truth Initiative, Campaign for Tobacco=Free Kids, Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation, the Public Health Institute, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, Pfizer Pharmaceutical,  and other organizations on the economics of tobacco.