Dr. Susan Jarvi

Susan Jarvi was raised in Massachusetts and attended school there as well as in Illinois. She completed post-doctoral training in Califoniia and Washington DC. She moved to Hawaii in 1995, and worked as a research scientist at USGS in Volcano. She was hired in the UH Hilo Biology Department in 2000 and taught a variety of courses, including Microbiology. She served as Department Chair from 2006-2009, when she was offered a position in the College of Pharmacy. She was promoted to Professor and served as Department Chair 2015-2016.

She is currently head of the Hawaii Island Rat Lungworm Working Group, and continues her work on research and education on Rat Lungworm Disease. She also continues work on avian malaria and avian poxvirus.

She is married and has two children.

Education

• M.S., Veterinary and Animal Sciences (Genetics) - University of Massachusetts, Amherst
• Ph.D., Biology - Northern Illinois University, DeKalb
• Postdoctoral Fellow - The Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope National Medical Center Duarte, CA
• Postdoctoral Fellow - The Molecular Genetics laboratory of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC.

Honors

• UH Hilo Excellence in Scholarly Creative Activities Award (2014-2015)

Grants

• Isolation of the 31kDa protein from Angiostrongylus cantonensis from Hawaii and comparative diagnostic efficacy with the Thailand 31 kDa A. cantonensis protein. Hawaii Community Foundation Medical Research. $50,000
• Introducing integrated pest management strategies to Hawaii School Garden Projects to advance rat lungworm disease education and control invasive mollusks, carriers of rat lungworm parasites. Hawaii Invasive Species Council. $65,634.

Recent Publications

• Jarvi SI, Howe K, Macomber P. 2018. Angiostrongyliasis or Rat Lungworm Disease: A Perspective from Hawaiʻi. Journal: Current Tropical Medicine Reports. DOI: 10.1007/s40475-018-0132-z
• Howe K, and Jarvi SI. 2017. Angiostrongyliasis (Rat Lungworm Disease): Viewpoints from Hawaii Island. ACS Chemical Neuroscience. DOI: 10.1021/acschemneuro.7b00299. Jarvi SI, Bianchi KR, Farias MEM, Txakeeyang A, McFarland T, Belcaid M, & Asano A. 2016. Characterization of class II β chain major histocompatibility complex genes in a family of Hawaiian honeycreepers: ‘amakihi (Hemignathus virens). Immunogenetics DOI 10.1007/s00251-016-0908-z
• Jarvi, S.I., Pitt WC, Farias MEM, Shiels L, Severino M, Howe K, Jacquier S, Shiels AB, Amano K, Luiz B, Maher D, Allison M, Holtquist Z, Scheibelhut N. 2015. Detection of Angiostrongylus cantonensis in the blood and peripheral tissues of wild Hawaiian rats (Rattus rattus) by a quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay. PLOS ONE DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0123064 April 24, 2015
• Atkinson, C. T., Saili, K. S., Utzurrum, R.B., and S. I. Jarvi. Experimental Evidence for Evolved Tolerance to Avian Malaria 3 in a Wild Population of Low Elevation Hawai‘i ‘Amakihi 4 (Hemignathus virens). Ecohealth. EcoHealth (2014) 10:366-375 DOI 10.1007/s10393-013-0899-2
• S. I. Jarvi, U. K. Herold, M. E. Farias, and C. T. Atkinson. 2013 Cryptic mtDNA diversity of Plasmodium relictum in the Hawaiian Islands. Parasitology 3 Dec;140(14):1741-50 doi:10.1017/S0031182013000905 [2.852]
• Hollingsworth, R.G., Howe, K. & Jarvi, S.I. 2013. Control measures for slug and snail hosts of Angiostrongylus cantonensis, with special reference to the semi-slug Parmarion martensi. Hawaii Journal of Medicine and Public Health. June 2013, Volume 72, No. 6, Supplement 2, ISSN 2165-8218 p 75-80
• Jarvi S.I., Farias, M.E.M., Howe, K., Jacquier, S., Hollingsworth, R. & Pitt, W. 2012. Quantitative PCR estimates Angiostrongylus cantonensis infection levels in semi-slugs (Parmarion martensi). Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 185: 174-176. [2.859]
• Farias, M.E.M. C.T. Atkinson, and S.I. Jarvi. 2012 Distribution of trap alleles of Plasmodium relictum in infected hatch-year ʻamakihi (Hemignathus virens) on the east side of Hawaii Island. Malaria Journal, 11:305 http://www.malariajournal.com/content/11/1/305 [3.4]
• Jarvi S.I., D. Hu, K. Misajon, B.A. Coller, T. Wong, M. Lieberman 2013.Vaccination of captive Nene against West Nile Virus using a protein-based vaccine (WN-80E). J of Wildlife Diseases, 49(1) DOI 10.7569/2011-12-363. [1.415]
• Atkinson, C.T., K.C. Wiegand, D. Triglia, and S.I. Jarvi. 2012. Reversion to virulence and efficacy of an attenuated canarypox vaccine in Hawaiʻi ʻamakihi (Hemignathus virens). J of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine 43(4):807-818 DOI: Bioone.org
• Atkinson, C.T., K.C. Wiegand, D. Triglia, and S.I. Jarvi. 2011. Efficacy of a commercial canarypox vaccine for protecting Hawaiʻi ʻamakihi from field isolates of Avipoxvirus. Hawaiʻi Cooperative Studies Unit Technical Report HCSU-019. University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. https://hilo.hawaii.edu/hcsu/documents/TRHCSU-019Atkinson_Avian_Pox.pdf
• Farias, MEM . DA LaPointe, CT Atkinson, C Czerwonka, R Shrestha, SI. Jarvi. (2010) Taqman Real-Time PCR detects Avipoxvirus DNA in blood of Hawaii ʻamakihi (Hemignathus virens). PLoS ONE 5(5): e10745. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010745 [4.351]
• Farias, M.E.M., and Jarvi, S.I., (2009) A nucleotide-constrained single base extension method for improved detection of minority alleles in Plasmodium. Molecular & Biochemical Parasitology 163:114-118.[2.873]
• Jarvi, S.I., Farias M.E.M. and Atkinson CT. (2008) Genetic characterization of Hawaiian isolates of Plasmodium relictum reveals mixed-genotype infections. Biology Direct 3:25. [3.32]
• Jarvi, S.I.,Triglia, D., Giannoulis, A., Farias, M.E.M., Bianchi, K., & Atkinson, C.T. (2008) Diversity, origins and virulence of Avipoxviruses in Hawaiian Forest Birds. Conservation Genetics, 9, 339-348. [1.849]
• Jarvi, S.I., Lieberman, M.M., Hofmeister, E., Nerkurkar, V.R., Wong, T., & Weeks-Levy, C. (2008) Protective efficacy of a recombinant subunit West Nile virus vaccine in Domestic geese (Anser anser). Vaccine Oct 26, 42. 5338-44. [3.508]

Research Lab

For details about research, please visit the Jarvi Lab.