Fraser was raised in Medicine Hat, Alberta, child of a 12th-generation French-Canadian settler parent and a post-war Dutch immigrant parent. He received his BSc in Chemistry from the University of Alberta in 1998. He received his PhD in supramolecular chemistry from The Scripps Research Institute while working with Julius Rebek, Jr. He studied medicinal chemistry as a post-doctoral fellow with François Diederich at ETH-Zurich and has been a professor at the University of Victoria since 2005. Fraser’s scholarly work has explored the interface of the physical sciences, life sciences, and health research, and he has collaborated extensively with academic and private sector partners from many disciplines. He was the Director of UVic’s interdisciplinary Centre for Advanced Materials and Related Technology from 2020–2022 and was named Associate Vice President of Research at UVic in 2022. Fraser is active in campus-wide initiatives that aim to grow UVic's success in research, partnerships, and innovation. Outside of work, Fraser takes his greatest pleasures from family, strong coffee, the great outdoors, and soccer.