Maverick Speaker Series with Dr. Harvey J. Alter

Noble Dreams

A conversation featuring Harvey J. Alter, M.D., 2020 Nobel Prize Recipient in Medicine

Through the MAVERICK Speaker Series, PCDS is honored to host visionaries and trailblazers who, like Senator McCain (P ’03, ’04, ’07, G ’10), have blazed their own trails in the world.

On February 16, 2022, PCDS welcomed Dr. Harvey J. Alter, the 2020 Nobel Prize Recipient in Medicine and Senior Scholar at the NIH Clinical Center’s Department of Transfusion Medicine.

Before the evening all-community event, Dr. Alter spent time sharing his career journey—and his wonderful sense of humor—with the entire PCDS US. He spoke about the twists and turns of his career path, times he had to shift his perspective, the process through which he discovered the hepatitis C virus, and the role he played in eliminating transmission of the virus through blood transfusions.

Later that evening, in front of hundreds of PCDS community members—including students, parents, grandparents, faculty, alumni, and special guests—Dr. Alter was welcomed by Claire Merkel representing the McCain family. The parent of two PCDS alumni, Mrs. Merkel is the Senior Director of the Arizona Programs for the McCain Institute for International Leadership at ASU. Before delivering greetings from the McCain family, she said, “Senator McCain lived every day of his life to the fullest, and many times on the edge; the edge is where discoveries are made, in medicine and elsewhere.” Following Mrs. Merkel’s updates and congratulations from the McCain family, PCDS Head of School and Gay Firestone Wray Chair for Leadership Andrew M. Rodin launched a conversation with Dr. Alter, made even more engaging due to their special relationship; Mr. Rodin is Dr. Alter’s son-in-law. With humility and humor, Dr. Alter spoke about his decades of work at the National Institutes of Health and the process through which he made his Nobel Prize-winning discovery, saying, “I always worried I wouldn’t know what to do next. But what to do next just becomes obvious when you keep moving forward.” He also spoke about the value of collaboration, saying, “Nobody does research by themselves, you need good people around you, and I was lucky to be around a good team for a long time, sharing ideas, sharing resources.” Dr. Alter commented that life sometimes calls for a change in plans; as a young adult, he was on a path to be a clinical medical practitioner, but life circumstances changed his path to medical research— a change that ultimately had a significant impact on the medical field. Other topics covered included the behavior of viruses, the role of mRNA vaccines, and his colleague, Dr. Anthony Fauci. When asked what issues he believes should be addressed more fully over the next several decades, he spoke passionately about combating viruses, cancer, and climate change.

Regarding winning the prestigious Prize, the audience loved Dr. Alter’s recounting of the phone call he received at 4:15 a.m. from Stockholm, informing him that he had won the Nobel Prize. To wrap up the evening, Dr. Alter recited a delightfully touching poem he wrote upon receiving the Prize titled, “I Never Had No Nobel Dreams” that concluded with “…though the leaves of my life age will soon rake up, I’m happy to be where I am because in life, there’s no make-up. From this Nobel dream, I’m afraid to wake up.” n

“There is no elevator to success—you have to take the stairs…discovery is a step-by-step process.” Harvey J. Alter, M.D.

Harvey J. Alter, M.D. is the grandfather of Quincy ’25, Jake ’19, and Ty ’19 Rodin. Dr. Alter is a Senior Scholar at the NIH Clinical Center’s Department of Transfusion Medicine and shares the 2020 Nobel Prize with Michael Houghton, PhD, University of Alberta, Canada; and Charles M. Rice, PhD, Rockefeller University, New York City.