Kathryn Stowell

Kathryn Mary Stowell is a New Zealand academic. She is currently a full professor at the Massey University.
Academic career.
Stowell joined Massey University in 1976, after a 1990 PhD titled " 'Cloning and expression of the cDNA for human lactoferrin,' " she rose to full professor in 2015.
Stowell is best-known publicly for her work on
malignant hyperthermia (MH), a genetic disorder which causes a severe and potentially fatal hypermetabolic reaction in susceptible people when exposed to inhaled anaesthetics or the muscle relaxant suxamethonium. Malignant hyperthermia has an incidence of between 1:10,000 and 1:250,000 worldwide, but 1:200 at Palmerston North Hospital due to a large family in the area carrying the gene for many generations. Stowell's work has largely concentrated on identifying the genetic basis for MH susceptibility, and developing genetic testing to replace the invasive muscle biopsy test currently used.
In 2015, Stowell was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for her services to biomedical science.