Kathleen Howe is currently a member of the Hawaii Island Rat Lungworm Working Group, under the direction of Dr. Susan Jarvi at the University of Hawaii at Hilo (UHH), Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy.

A recent graduate of the Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science Masters Program, Kathleen has been working with Dr. Jarvi as both a researcher and education outreach coordinator since 2011.

She has published a case study on her son's recovery from a severe case of rat lungworm disease (RLWD) and is co-author on a number of studies related to RLWD.

She has conducted studies to examine the potential for rainwater catchment systems as a source of Angiostrongylus cantonensis transmission on Hawaii Island and is currently working with school garden projects to develop an integrated pest management (IPM) program for invasive slugs and snails.

The project's goals are to train youth as community educators and to initiate an IPM plan for invasive slugs and snails in Hawaii.

In addition to these projects she has participated in multiple studies conducted at the Jarvi Lab relating to Angiostrongylus cantonensis including rinse solution trials, vaccine trials, human exposure studies, and diagnostics for angiostrongyliasis.


Kaye was in Indonesia working on a project when called by her sister and told her son, Graham, had been admitted to the hospital with an unknown condition.

She immediately flew to Hawai'i and has been Graham's primary caregiver for the last 9 1/2 years.

She enrolled in the University of Hawaii in order to take courses that would let her work with Dr. Susan Jarvi in the Hawaii Island Rat Lungworm Working Group at the University of Hawaii at Hilo (UHH), Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy.

She has presented testimony on Senate Bill 2516 Relating to Rat Lungworm Disease to the joint hearing of Senate Committees on Water, Land, and Agriculture and Consumer Protection and Health at the Hawaii State Capitol.

She has reached out and brought her knowledge and compassion to other sufferers of this disease and has worked tirelessly to educate the Hawaiian legislature on the need for funding for research and treatment on the Hawaiian Islands.

Along with Susan Jarvi, a disease specialist at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, Kaye runs the Rat Lungworm Working Group, a volunteer organization that they founded.


For years, on a shoestring budget, the group has performed research on the illness and dispensed advice to patients, filling what Howe and Jarvi see as a gap in the government's response.

Funding for their work has died four times in the state legislature.

When the legislature finally awarded funding for Rat Lungworm Disease it was to the Department of Health and not to Dr. Jarvi and the researchers in Hilo.

A million dollars of funding bypassed the Rat Lungworm Working Group who had worked on the problem for years to fund Public Service Announcements on Radio and Television and left Kaye Howe and Dr. Jarvi out in the cold.

Dr. Susan Jarvi's lab, located at the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy at UH Hilo, currently has two main areas of investigation: avian pathogens and rat lungworm disease.
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Rebekah Uccellini Kuby worked in Hawaii doing community development and poverty alleviation projects for years. She has helped to create more than 23 organic gardens — many in areas once deemed to be food deserts.
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Graham McCumber is the son of Kaye Howe and has struggled with Rat Lungworm Disease for almost a decade. He has written a book about his journey.
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