Harvey J. Alter

Research physician Harvey Alter dedicated his career to studies intended to ensure the safety of blood transfusions. In his research on viral hepatitis he co-discovered the Australia antigen which proved to be the key to detecting the hepatitis B virus. He was the key scientist on the research that led to the discovery of hepatitis C in 1969. These findings provided a means to reduce the incidence of hepatitis caused by blood transfusion to near zero. More recently he was working on a DNA approach to vaccines. Alter came to the NIH in 1961 as a Clinical Associate. He then spent three years at the Georgetown University Hospital. In 1969, he came back to NIH as a Senior Investigator in the Clinical Center’s Department of Transfusion Medicine. He then became Chief of the Clinical Studies Section and, in 1987, Associate Director of Research in the Department of Transfusion Medicine. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Lasker Award (200) and the Nobel Prize (2020).