Background

Milton Alter was born on November 11, 1929, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. He was the son of Samuel Alter and Rose Alter.

Education

Milton Alter graduated magna cum laude from the University of Buffalo in 1951, where he earned his medical degree in 1955. Following an internship in medicine at the University of Minnesota, and residency in Neurology at the University of Minnesota under the direction of A. B. Baker, MD, a series of fellowship experiences in neuroepidemiology followed at the US National Institutes of Health, University of South Carolina, Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, Columbia University, and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel. Milton Alter became a diplomat of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in 1964 and received a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Minnesota in 1966.

Career

Milton Alter began his medical career with the National Institutes of Health, where he served for six years as a U.S. public health service officer in neuroepidemiology, conducting research throughout the United States and Canada, as well as in Jerusalem from 1960-1962.

Milton Alter then served as professor of neurology at the University of Minnesota and chief of the neurology service at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Minneapolis. In 1975-1976, he served as interim chairman of neurology at Beilinson Hospital (now Rabin Medical Center) near Tel Aviv, and from 1976 to 1987 he was chairman of the Department of Neurology at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia.

Achievements

• Milton Alter co-authored six books, contributed chapters to dozens, and published nearly 200 articles. He was a reviewer or consulting editor of more than a dozen journals and served as editor in chief of neuroepidemiology for seven years. He was much sought after as a presenter at medical conferences and enjoyed medical-legal work, as well.
  
  Another of the important discoveries credited to Milton Alter was the study of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) among Jewish immigrants from Libya and Tunisia. The high frequency of CJD among these groups was originally thought to be due to consumption of scrapie-infected sheep parts but was later shown to be the expression of a genetic mutation in the prion protein gene. Today, research on the CJD focus continues in Israel.
  
  In 2005, the American Academy of Neurology established a fund in his name for clinical research in stroke and MS. Milton Alter also championed the study of incidence, prevalence, and risk factors for stroke, and also was an early proponent of clinical trials as an important neuroepidemiological tool for understanding stroke.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Dermatoglyphics in Medical Disorders

    (The skin on the fingertips and palmar and plantar surface...)

    2012
  • Multiple Sclerosis: Clues to Its Cause 1973
  • The Epidemiology of Multiple Sclerosis 1968

Membership

Member of American Academy of Neurology; American Neurological Association; World Federation of Neurology; American Medical Association.

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  American Academy of Neurology , United States

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  American Neurological Association , United States

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  American Medical Association , United States

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  World Federation of Neurology , London

Personality

Milton Alter was a passionate gardener and lover of the arts. He also was very committed to his Jewish faith and tradition.

Connections

Milton Alter married Reina Rolnick Alter, August 31, 1952. Children: David Shlomo Alter, Daniel Moshe Alter, Michael Aaron Eli Alter, Joel Avram Alter, Naomi Tsipora Alter-Ohayon. Nine grandchildren.

Father:

Samuel Alter

Mother:

Rose Alter

Spouse:

Reina Rolnick Alter

child:

Naomi Tsipora Alter-Ohayon

child:

Michael Aaron Eli Alter

child:

Joel Avram Alter

child:

Daniel Moshe Alter

child:

David Shlomo Alter

Sister:

Marlene Joseph