Stephen Mark Feinstone is a

virologist Virology is the scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host cells for reproduction, thei ...

who, together with Albert Kapikian and

Robert Purcell Robert W. Purcell (1912–1991) was an American businessman and philanthropist, having served as financial advisor to the Rockefeller Family from 1955 to 1979 and as chairman of the board of trustees of Cornell University from 1968 to 1978. Duri ...

, co-identified the

Hepatitis A Hepatitis A is an infectious disease of the liver caused by ''Hepatovirus A'' (HAV); it is a type of viral hepatitis. Many cases have few or no symptoms, especially in the young. The time between infection and symptoms, in those who develop them ...

virus (HAV) in 1973. He completed his undergraduate education at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

graduating in 1966, and completed his medical degree at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...

in 1969. In 1971 he joined the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases where he co-identified the

virus (HAV) in 1973. The same team developed the first assays that could measure the virus antigen and antibody, and using those assays, the group along with Harvey J. Alter demonstrated through the serologic exclusion of

and

Hepatitis B Hepatitis B is an infectious disease caused by the '' Hepatitis B virus'' (HBV) that affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. It can cause both acute and chronic infection. Many people have no symptoms during an initial infection. ...

that a third, previously unrecognised form of viral hepatitis existed, originally named non-A, non-B hepatitis (NANBH). Michael Houghton's laboratory at

Chiron Corporation Chiron Corporation ( ) was an American multinational biotechnology firm founded in 1981, based in Emeryville, California, that was acquired by Novartis on April 20, 2006. It had offices and facilities in eighteen countries on five continents. ...

ultimately identified the agent associated with NANBH, now known as Hepatitis C, in 1989.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Johns Hopkins University alumni University of Tennessee alumni American virologists 20th-century American scientists {{scientist-stub