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Fate drew him to this field of research, Alter sa
ys, which was confirmed by a friend and colleague, Dr. Harvey G. Klein, M.D., a scientist emeritus of the Department of Transfusion Medicine at the NIH Clinical Center. “As a young scientist searching for the causes of febrile reactions to blood transfusion using immunological techniques, he [Alter] co-discovered the hepatitis B surface [Australia] antigen,” Klein says. “He considered this the serendipity of science, but in fact, nature does favor the prepared mind. He focused his scientific career on investigating the causes of transfusion transmitted hepatitis.” Alter continued to pursue other agents that appeared to transmit hepatitis, realizing that one virus was different from the known ones and he labeled this nonA, nonB hepatitis. Eventually this was isolated as the hepatitis C virus, Klein adds. “His clinical work defined the natural history of hepatitis C.” After retiring from the NIH in 2017, Harvey Alter returned for a one-year, part-time position in October 2020 and has continued research on a hepatitis C cohort he had been following since 1990, when scientists could first recognize the virus by antibody testing. “There are still more patients to treat, other studies to complete, and I will be finishing stuff over the next year,” he notes. “I will be following patients in a study to see if the cure reverses liver damage.” Work has begun on blood bank agents that can screen for about 20 infections, and Alter says his successor, Valeria DeGiorgi, will be pursuing that. According to Alter, among the reasons he continued working is that he has enjoyed all aspects of his career. “I have never been bored any day I worked here; it has been 50 years of non-boredom. It is always stimulating, the NIH has a lot of collegiality and cooperation and in order to accomplish things you need collaborators and mentors. Just reading the literature every day, something exciting comes out. It’s hard to explain how much job satisfaction there is – everyone has some goal, some technology they are interested in and they just keep working. One step led to the next step and that kept the excitement up.” Alter jokes that he already wrote his epitaph, “As in life, he ran out of time.” His father’s deep interest in science inspired Alter to study medicine. “My father was a frustrated physician. He came from a large family, was smart, was always reading Science Digest and would have liked to have gone to medical school,” he says. “He was a subliminal influence. I just really enjoyed medicine. I was not interested in research until I was called back to NIH in 1970 and got interested in academic medicine.” The chance to do research and work closely with small groups of patients turned out to be a perfect fit for him. “It was more satisfying to see patients in the context of a study; you are seeing one with a particular disease, looking for commonalities, causes and treatments. I could spend more time with patients and train fellows. It’s nice to have a defined hypothesis or goal and have a completed package, which is out there for others to see. It suits my personality well.” Alter’s approach and commitment to research led Klein to describe him as a ’scientist’s scientist’. “He is curious, creative, focused, hardworking and dedicated,” says Klein. As a researcher, Alter has also been keeping up with efforts to contain the current coronavirus pandemic. The failure to respond early to outbreaks led to the virus spreading quickly, he notes, but he adds that he has confidence in the vaccines that have been developed. “They have been proven extremely safe, and been reviewed by the best scientists around, so there won’t be any safety issues.” When the COVID-19 pandemic is over and he has more time, Alter says he is looking forward to getting back to one of his favorite past times – traveling – as well as catching up on reading. “After this year, I think I really will retire,” he says. NLS NORDICLIFESCIENCE.ORG 73