Christian Périgaud obtained his Ph.D. (1991) at the University of Montpellier with G. Gosselin in the laboratory of Pr. J.-L. Imbach working on nucleoside chemistry. Back to Montpellier after a postdoctoral work with Pr. J.-P. Sommadossi, he was appointed as associate professor (1993), then professor (2001). He was the group leader of the NuEP research team until 2014. His scientific interests focused on the development of anti-infective agents, prodrug concepts as well as tools for the understanding of biological processes. He has also served for his University as vice-president for research (2008-2012) and for the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research (2013-2020). Currently, he is working for the Corporate relations Department of the CNRS, where he is in charge of the health sector.