Dr. Pierre Chartrand is the Vice-President of CIHR's Research Portfolio and is currently serving as Acting President of CIHR while the search for a new president is conducted and concluded. As Acting President, Dr. Chartrand will act as the Chief Executive Officer of CIHR and will be responsible for its day-to-day management and direction. 

Before joining CIHR in 2006, Dr. Chartrand was the Chief Executive Officer of Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer, and a Full Professor in the Department of Pathology and Cellular Biology in the Faculty of Medicine at the Université de Montréal. Among his many accomplishments, Dr. Chartrand has also been a member of the board of the Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec (FRSQ). He organized and led the FRSQ's Cancer Network, which became, under his leadership, one of the strongest networks of the FRSQ.

Dr. Chartrand holds a PhD in microbiology and immunology from the Université de Montréal and went on to do postdoctoral training at the Institute of Virology of the Medical Research Council of Great Britain before setting up his laboratory at the Université de Sherbrooke. Dr. Chartrand later served as Director of the Institut du cancer de Montréal.