Dr. Biglan has been conducting research on the development and prevention of child and adolescent problem behavior for the past 23 years. His work has included studies of the risk and protective factors associated with tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use; high-risk sexual behavior; and anti-social behavior. He has conducted numerous experimental evaluations of interventions to prevent tobacco use, through both school-based programs and community-wide interventions. He has also performed evaluations of interventions to prevent high-risk sexual behavior, antisocial behavior, and reading failure. During the 2000-2001 school year, Dr. Biglan led a team of scholars in a review of what is known about the development and prevention of youth problem behaviors. Helping adolescents at risk: Prevention of multiple problems behaviors (2004) summarizes the evidence and defines next steps for research and practice. In 2015, he published the Nurture Effect: How the Science of Human Behavior Can Improve Our Lives and Our World.
Dr. Biglan was an expert witness in the U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit against the tobacco companies. He was president of the Society for Prevention Research. In recent years, he has analyzed the evolution of capitalism in the U.S. and has written a book, Rebooting Capitalism: How We Can Forge a Society That Works for Everyone.