About Dr. Alter

Dr. Alter has spent most of his career in the Department of Transfusion Medicine and has been designated as a Distinguished NIH Investigator, only 1 of 23 to be so named. Dr. Alter was co-discoverer of the Australia antigen that later proved to be a critical marker of the hepatitis B virus and was principal investigator in studies that identified non-A, non-B hepatitis and later showed its identity to HCV. His prospective studies demonstrated how different donor interventions reduced transfusion hepatitis incidence from 30% in 1970 to near zero in 1997. In recognition of his research accomplishments, Dr. Alter was awarded the Landsteiner Prize of the American Association of Blood Banks, the Inserm Medal from Institute Pasteur, the Clinical Lasker Award, the Canada Gairdner International Award, the CDC Fries Prize, and in 2020, the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. He has been elected to both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine and is a Master of the American College of Physicians.