Fraser Mustard was born in Toronto. He spent his first 26 years of adult life as a physician and medical scientist at the University of Toronto and McMaster University. After 16 years at McMaster University where he helped establish a new medical school with a radically new curriculum, he took on the task in 1982 of creating and establishing a unique Canadian institution, The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research [CIAR]. The Institute is a research network that studies complex problems in the sciences and social sciences. This Institution involves over 160 researchers in Canada, the United States, Europe, Israel and Japan. The programs include areas such as Cosmology, Evolutionary Biology, Population Health, Human Development and the Determinants of Economic Growth. The output from these programs has influenced policies in the public and private sectors in such areas as science and technology, economic growth, health and human development.

The Institute and Dr. Mustard have received numerous awards for their work including the Companion of the Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario, the Royal Bank Award, the Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Prize in Medicine, the Gairdner Foundation International Award for Medical Research, and the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostatis Robert P. Grant Medal, as well as sixteen honorary degrees from Canadian and international universities.

Dr. Mustard is currently the Founding President and Fellow of the Institute and works through the Founders' Network with the individuals who helped build CIAR. He is co-chair of the Early Years Learning Study for the Ontario government; Chairman of the Board of PENCE [Protein Engineering National Centre of Excellence Program] and a Board member of the Aga Khan University in Karachi, Board Member and Past Chairman of Ballard Power Systems in Vancouver and The Institute for Work and Health in Toronto.

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