Dr. Alain Beaudet is the Past-President of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Canada’s premier health research funding agency. In this role, Alain pioneered a far-reaching Patient-oriented Research Strategy and increased CIHR’s involvement in global health research, namely through its participation in the Global Alliance for Chronic Disease (GACD), an international organization which he chaired from 2015 to 2017. He also undertook a major reform of CIHR’s peer review and grant adjudication processes, to better respond to the organization’s broad mandate.

Alain was also the President and CEO of the Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec (FRSQ) where he formalized a forum of exchange between Canada’s various Provincial Health Research Organizations and created an original Biopharmaceutical Research Consortium (CQDM), in partnership with the pharmaceutical industry.

At the world-renowned Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI), Alain headed the functional neuroanatomy laboratory, pursuing basic research into the role and mechanisms of action of biogenic amines and neuropeptides in the central nervous system and the application of neuroreceptor trafficking to pain therapies. Before this, Alain earned a medical degree and a PhD in neuroscience from the Université de Montréal and did postdoctoral training at the Centre d’études nucléaires in Saclay, France and the University of Zurich’s Brain Research Institute in Switzerland.

Alain has authored over 175 original articles and 40 monographs and book chapters. His numerous distinctions include the Prix Adrien-Pouliot by the Association francophone pour le savoir (Acfas), France’s Order of Academic Palms distinguished Officer’s award, the Australian Society for Medical Research (ASMR) Medal, and honorary doctorates from Université Pierre et Marie Curie and Université de Sherbrooke. He became a Knight of the National Order of Quebec, the highest honour awarded by the government of Quebec, and was inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.