Awards & Winners

Harvey J. Alter

Date of Birth 1935
Place of Birth United States of America
(Americas, DVD Region 1, United States, with Territories, Lacks Family Cemetery )
Nationality
Also know as Harvey Alter
Harvey James Alter is an American medical researcher, virologist, and physician who is best known for his work that led to the discovery of the hepatitis C virus. Alter is the chief of the infectious disease section and the associate director for research of the Department of Transfusion Medicine at the Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center in the National Institutes of Health. In the mid-1970s, Alter and his research team demonstrated that most post-transfusion hepatitis cases were not due to hepatitis A and hepatitis B viruses. Alter, in collaboration with Bob Purcell and Paige L. Meredith, proved through transmission studies in chimpanzees that a new form of hepatitis, initially called “non-A, non-B hepatitis” caused the infections. This work eventually led to the discovery of the hepatitis C virus in 1988. Alter has received recognition for the research leading to the discovery of the virus that causes hepatitis C. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, the highest award conferred to civilians in United States government public health service, and the 2000 Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research.

Awards by Harvey J. Alter

Check all the awards nominated and won by Harvey J. Alter.

2013


Gairdner Foundation International Award
(For critical contributions to the discovery and isolation of the hepatitis C virus, which has led to the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic agents.)

2000


Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award
(For pioneering work leading to the discovery of the virus that causes hepatitis C and the development of screening methods that reduced the risk of blood transfusion-associated hepatitis in the U.S. from 30 percent in 1970 to virtually zero in 2000.)