Legislative Auditor James Nobles is launching a fresh review of ethics concerns in psychiatric research at the University of Minnesota — and lobbing criticism at the university's Board of Regents.
Testifying on Tuesday before the House Higher Education Policy and Finance Committee, Nobles said this review seeks to determine whether the U has fixed lapses in recruiting and safety oversight of psychiatric research that he identified in a scathing audit last year.
Nobles commended lawmakers, who grilled U officials for two hours about the controversy, for holding the U accountable for its psychiatric research, then asked why the regents hadn't done so.
"You elected the regents to do what you did today," he said, "and they have not done."
University leaders at the hearing acknowledged a history of problems in the Psychiatry Department but reviewed a litany of changes over the past year, including the replacement of the department chairman, a suspension of psychiatric studies until they were deemed safe, a transfer of oversight authority for psychiatric studies, and new rules for the recruitment of unstable psychiatric patients.
U President Eric Kaler told the committee that the department already has made three major staff changes, but he added: "More than three people are probably going to have to go.
"My regret … is that I did not start on this sooner," Kaler added, acknowledging that problems were raised by media reports and university whistleblowers years ago.
Concerns emerged after the 2004 suicide of Dan Markingson, who was enrolled in a U schizophrenia drug study at the time of his death. Markingson's family alleged that he was coerced into the study by a psychiatrist, Dr. Stephen Olson, who was treating him while also receiving funding from drugmaker AstraZeneca to conduct the study. Media reports raised concerns about the case in 2008.
