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The Clinical Center’s Dr. Harvey J. Alter received the 2000 Lasker Award for clinical medical research during ceremonies in New York City on Sept. 22. He shares the award with Dr. Michael Houghton, a scientist with the Chiron Corporation.
The Lasker Award honors Dr. Alter’ s ongoing studies to uncover the causes and reduce the risks of transfusion-associated hepatitis and Dr. Houghton’s continuing work in molecular biology to isolate the hepatitis C virus.
“Dr. Alter’s studies of hepatitis have tremendously benefited the nation’s public health efforts in the arena of blood safety,” said Dr. Ruth Kirschstein, NIH principal deputy director. “His work spans 35 years of creativity, focus and tenacity.”
“What makes the Lasker Award so special is the scientific stature and eminence of the people who nominated and elected me to be the recipient,” commented Dr. Alter on his selection.
“That such individuals would recognize my work as important and clinically significant is by far the highest honor I could achieve.
“Clinical research seems motivated by three major elements: the desire to understand the causes and mechanisms of disease, the wish to do something that will have genuine relevance to patient care, and the hope that the science will merit the respect of other scientists. The first two elements are to some extent under the scientist’s control, but the latter is ephemeral and perhaps the hardest to achieve.
“Just as a study has limited relevance until it is peer reviewed, so too does a scientific life. The Lasker Award is validation at a level that I never anticipated, and I cherish it. It is peer review that fortunately requires no corrections or resubmissions. My level of gratitude is significant at a P-value that approaches infinity.”
“He is a model for the clinical scientist,” said Dr. John I. Gallin, CC director. “He has been a leader in the effort to improve blood safety, and his investigations have been instrumental in the virtual elimination of transfusion-associated hepatitis in the United States.”
A native of New York City, Dr. Alter earned his MD degree at University of Rochester. He came to the NIH Clinical Center as a senior investigator in 1969. He currently is chief of the infectious diseases section and associate director of research in the Department of Transfusion Medicine.
“As a young research fellow, Dr. Alter co-discovered the Australia antigen, a key to detecting hepatitis B virus,” noted Dr. Harvey Klein, chief of the CC Transfusion Medicine Department. “For many investigators that would be the highlight of a career. For Dr. Alter it was only an auspicious beginning.”
Thirty years ago, about a third of transfused people received tainted blood, which later inflamed their livers, producing a condition known as hepatitis. To combat this problem. Dr. Alter spearheaded a project at the Clinical Center that created a store- house of blood samples used to uncover the causes and reduce the risk of transfusion-associated hepatitis. Because of his work, the U.S. instituted blood and donor screening programs that have served to increase the safety of the blood supply.
Dr. Alter used this repository of clinically linked blood samples to identify another puzzling clinical problem.
“Most transfusion-related hepatitis was found to be due to a virus different from the two then known hepatitis agents, A and B,” Dr. Alter said. He called this new form of hepatitis non-A, non-B hepatitis and subsequently proved through trans- mission studies in chimpanzees that it was due to a new agent.
Vigorous efforts in dozens of laboratories failed to identify the presumptive virus or develop a test for it. Eventually, a Chiron Corporation team led by Dr. Houghton exploited the blossoming methods of molecular biology to isolate the virus now known as the hepatitis C virus
The Lasker Awards, first presented in 1946 and often called America’s Nobels, annually honor the country’s most outstanding contributions in basic and clinical medical research. The Lasker Awards are administered by the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation; the late Mary Lasker is widely recognized for her singular contribution to the growth of NIH and her commitment to the cause of biomedical research.
On the web: http://www.laskerfoundation.org/